Carbonates Minerals

Cobaltocalcite is a captivating and visually distinctive mineral that belongs to the calcite group of minerals. It is renowned for its remarkable pink to...

Smithsonite is a mineral that belongs to the carbonate group. It is named after James Smithson, an English scientist and mineralogist who was the...

Cerussite is a mineral that belongs to the carbonate group. It is composed of lead carbonate (PbCO3) and has a relatively high lead content....

Aragonite is a carbonate mineral and its formula is calcium carbonate. It has the same formula as Calcite and Vaterite, but has a different...

Rhodochrosite is a carbonate mineral with formula: MnCO3. It has a classic rose-pink color, but specimens can also be brown or gray. It forms dogtooth or rhombohedral crystals like calcite, but it may also occur in stalactitic, granular, nodular, botryoidal, and massive habits. Rhodochrosite is found in hydrothermal ore veins with sphalerite, galena, fluorite, and manganese oxides.

Possibly the earliest ore of copper, malachite is believed to have been mined in the Sinai and eastern deserts of ancient Egypt from as early as 3000 BCE. Single crystals are uncommon; when found, they are short to long prisms.

An important rock-forming mineral, dolomite is named after the French mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu. It is a colorless to white, pale brown, grayish, reddish, or pink mineral. Its crystals are commonly rhombohedral or tabular, often have curved faces, and sometimes cluster in saddle-shaped aggregates.

Calcite is a rock-forming mineral with a chemical formula of CaCO3. It is extremely common and found throughout the world in sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Some geologists consider it to be a "ubiquitous mineral" - one that is found everywhere.