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Claus Hedegaard

Brunckite

Specimen of Brunckite Brunckite was named in honor of Bergrat Otto Brunck (born 1866) from Freiberg in Germany. The mineral was described as amorphous zinc sulfide, similar to Sphalerite but without the internal organisation of atoms, without the crystal structure. It was later shown to be cryptocrystalline Sphalerite, that is composed of aggregates of microscopic Sphalerite crystals.
The type locality is the Cercapuquio Mine (Cerro Pasco, Peru), but the material has later been found in Broken Hill (New South Wales, Australia). Today Brunckite is considered a morphological variety of Sphalerite, forming masses of densely intergrown micro crystals.

Specimen Handling

Brunckite is for all practical purposes stable in a normal household environment. It is not harmed by light, changes in temperature in the normal comfort range, or known to decompose. Brunckite specimens can be fragile and should be handled with care like any other mineral specimen. Brunckite is not appreciably soluble in water.

Bibliography

Herzenberg, Robert. 1938. Zentralblatt für Mineralogie, Abteilung A., 1938, 373
Palache, Charles, Harry Berman & Clifford Frondel. 1944. The system of mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, 7th ed. Vol. 1.
Zemann, J. 1950. "Brunckit" - kryptokristalliner Zinkblende. Tschermak's Mineralogische und Petrographische Mitteilungen, Serie 3, 1(4), 417-419

This page is written and maintaned by Claus Hedegaard