Litharge
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Litharge is the natural mineral form of lead(II) oxide, PbO. Litharge is a secondary mineral which forms from the oxidation of galena ores. It forms as coatings and encrustations with internal tetragonal crystal structure. It is dimorphous with the orthorhombic form massicot. It forms soft (Mohs hardness of 2) red greasy appearing crusts with a very high specific gravity of 9.14 - 9.35.
It was first described as a mineral in 1917 for an occurrence in San Bernardino County, California.
Historically the term refers to the lead oxide chemical.
[edit] References
- Palache, C., H. Berman, and C. Frondel (1944) Dana’s system of mineralogy, (7th edition), v. I, 514–515
- Webmineral data
- Mindat with location data
- Mineral Data Publishing - PDF
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