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Hydrated copper oxalate, moolooite, in lichens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

J. E. Chisholm
Affiliation:
Departments of Mineralogy, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
G. C. Jones
Affiliation:
Departments of Mineralogy, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
O. W. Purvis
Affiliation:
Botany, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

Abstract

Vivid blue inclusions in white whewellite or weddellite, occurring within the medulla of four lichen species growing on copper-bearing rocks, have been identified as the hydrated copper oxalate, moolooite, CuC2O4. nH2O (n ∼ 0.4–0.7), by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction. The mineral is believed to have been formed by reaction between oxalic acid secreted by the lichen and ground or surface water containing copper.

Type
Mineralogy
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1987

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