earth science

Leucophoenicite

Leucophoenicite is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Leucophoenicite rather than just read about it. In short: Leucophoenicite is a mineral with formula Mn7(SiO4)3(OH)2. Generally brown to red or pink in color, the mineral gets its name from the Greek words meaning "pale purple-red".

Key takeaways

Leucophoenicite belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Leucophoenicite to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Leucophoenicite from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Leucophoenicite is a mineral with formula Mn7(SiO4)3(OH)2. Generally brown to red or pink in color, the mineral gets its name from the Greek words meaning "pale purple-red". Leucophoenicite was discovered in New Jersey, US and identified as a new mineral in 1899.

Description Leucophoenicite is normally brown, light purple-red, raspberry-red or pink in color; in thin section it is rose-red to colorless. The name is derived from the Greek words leukos, meaning "pale", and foinis, meaning "purple-red", in reference to its common coloring. Leucophoenicite typically occurs as isolated grains or it has granular massive habit. Crystals of the mineral, which occur rarely, are slender, prismatic, elongated, and striated. The mineral forms in a low pressure, hydrothermal environment or in a contact zone in the veins and skarns of a stratiform Zn-Mn ore body. Leucophoenicite is a member of the humite group. It has been found in association with barite, barysilite, calcite, copper, franklinite, garnet, glaucochroite, hausmannite, jerrygibbsite, manganosite, pyrochroite, rhodochrosite, sonolite, spessartine, sussexite, tephroite, vesuvianite, willemite, and zincite.

History Leucophoenicite was first found by J. J. McGovern at the Franklin Mine in New Jersey. The specimen, which consisted mostly of the mineral, was given to C. H. Warren in 1897. First thought to be clinohedrite deeply colored by manganese, it was identified as a new mineral in 1899 by Warren and Samuel Lewis Penfield. The mineral was also discovered around this time from the Buckwheat Pit in New Jersey; however, it was not identified as leucophoenicite until 1906 as it had been overlooked or mistaken for some other substance. The crystallography was first described by Charles Palache in 1910, as Penfield and Warren had been unable to determine even the crystal system of leucophoenicite. Material thought to be leucophoenicite, studied in 1928, 1935, and 1967, was in fact a composite of leucophoenicite, sonolite, and alleghanyite. The specimens studied by Warren and Penfield in 1899 and Palache in 1910 were both true leucophoenicite.

Distribution As of 2012, leucophoenicite has been found in Italy, Japan, Namibia, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, and the US. The type material is held in the United States at Yale University and Harvard University.

References

Bibliography Cook, David (September–October 1969). "Sonolite, Alleghanyite and Leucophoenicite from New Jersey" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 54 (9 & 10): 1392–1398. Palache, Charles (1935). The minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill, Sussex County, New Jersey. US Government Printing Office. pp. 103–105. Penfield, Samuel Lewis; Warren, C. H. (November 1899). "Some new minerals from the zinc mines at Franklin, New Jersey, and note concerning the chemical composition of ganomalite" (PDF). American Journal of Science. 4. 8 (47): 339–353. Bibcode:1899AmJS....8..339P. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-8.47.339. Welch, Mark D.; Marhsall, William G.; Ross, Nancy L.; Knight, Kevin S. (January 2002). "H positions in leucophoenicite, Mn7Si3O12 (OH)2: A close relative of the hydrous B phases" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 87 (1): 154–159. Bibcode:2002AmMin..87..154W. doi:10.2138/am-2002-0116. S2CID 53725023.

Further reading White, T. J.; Hyde, B. G. (February 1983). "A description of the leucophoenicite family of structures and its relation to the humite family". Acta Crystallographica Section B. 39 (1): 10–17. Bibcode:1983AcCrB..39...10W. doi:10.1107/S0108768183001950. (subscription required) Yau, Yu-Chyi; Peacor, Donald R. (July–August 1986). "Jerrygibbsite-leucophoenicite mixed layering and general relations between the humite and leucophoenicite families" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 71 (7 & 8): 985–988.

External links

Photos of leucophoenicite from mindat.org

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Leucophoenicite

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Leucophoenicite claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Leucophoenicite before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Leucophoenicite ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Leucophoenicite

In research: Leucophoenicite appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Leucophoenicite in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Leucophoenicite is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Hydroxide minerals, Manganese(II) minerals, Minerals in space group 14, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Leucophoenicite outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Leucophoenicite” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Leucophoenicite in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Leucophoenicite means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Leucophoenicite out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Leucophoenicite in simple terms?

Leucophoenicite is a mineral with formula Mn7(SiO4)3(OH)2. Generally brown to red or pink in color, the mineral gets its name from the Greek words meaning "pale purple-red".

Why does Leucophoenicite matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Leucophoenicite?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Leucophoenicite.