VARISCITE from CENTRAL TAJIKISTAN: PRELIMINARY RESULTS Andrey K
NOTES & NEW TECHNIQUES VARISCITE FROM CENTRAL TAJIKISTAN: PRELIMINARY RESULTS Andrey K. Litvinenko, Elena S. Sorokina, Stefanos Karampelas, Nikolay N. Krivoschekov, and Roman Serov variscite group (variscite and strengite) are isodimor- An occurrence of variscite containing strengite, phous with the metavariscite monoclinic phosphate as well as other minerals from both the variscite mineral group members metavariscite and phospho- and metavariscite groups, was discovered in the siderite, respectively. late 1970s in central Tajikistan. The material, Most of the variscite in the market today comes ranging from light blue to light green to green, is from the state of Utah, close to the cities of Lucin and suitable for cabochon cutting. The samples pre- Fairfield, though some of these mines are practically sented in this study showed traces of sulfur and exhausted (Larsen, 1942; Solodova et al., 1985; Willing arsenic, with higher iron and generally lower et al., 2008). The occurrences at Woodlands, Western vanadium and chromium concentrations than Australia, and Yauli, Peru were discovered in 2004 and variscites reported from other localities.These dif- 2011, respectively (Willing et al., 2008; Hyršl, 2011). ferences may result from the intergrowth of Among the minerals of the variscite and variscite with other minerals from the variscite metavariscite groups, variscite is most often used for and metavariscite groups. carvings and ornaments (see Koivula, 1986; Fritz and Rockwell, 2006; Willing et al., 2008; and Hyršl, 2011). Variscite has a waxy luster and is transparent to translucent with a color range from white to brown ariscite (figure 1), a relatively common cave min- and blue to green to yellow, which can cause misiden- eral that forms as a result of phosphate-bearing V tification as turquoise and chrysoprase (Willing et al., surface solutions reacting with aluminum-rich rocks 2008).
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