Gottlobite: The “Thank God” Mineral

Gottlobite

• Literally translated from German the meaning is “Thank God”; it is named after its type locality, the hill Gottlob (573 m) near Friedrichroda, Thuringia, Germany
• Known only since 1996
• Formula: CaMg(VO₄,AsO₄)(OH)
• Space group: P2₁2₁2₁ (No. 19)
• Crystal system: orthorhombic
• Crystal class: 222
• Lattice parameters: a = 7.501 Å, b = 9.010 Å, c = 5.941 Å, α = β =  γ = 90°

---

Picture: CC BY-SA 3.0 de – Thomas Witzke – http://tw.strahlen.org/typloc/gottlobit.html

---

Crystal structure (click on the picture to download the VESTA file):

(K. Momma and F. Izumi, “VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data,” J. Appl. Crystallogr., 44, 1272-1276 (2011).)

View along the c axis.

• MgO₆ octahedra (orange)
• AsO₄/VO₄ tetrahedra (purple)
• Ca (blue)
• Oxygen (red)

For a 3D interactive version, see here:

https://skfb.ly/6nBSF

Advertisement

Freieslebenite

• Named after the mine commissioner of Saxony (Germany) Johann Carl Freiesleben
• Formula: AgPbSbS₃
• Space group: P2₁/a (No. 14)
• Crystal system: monoclinic
• Crystal class: 2/m
• Lattice parameters: a = 7.518 Å, b = 12.809 Å, c = 5.940 Å, α = 90°, β = 92.25°, γ = 90°

---

Picture: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

---

Crystal structure (click on the picture to download the VESTA file):

(K. Momma and F. Izumi, “VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data,” J. Appl. Crystallogr., 44, 1272-1276 (2011).)

View along the c axis.

• AgS₃ (ditorted) trigonal-planar coordination environment (gray)
• SbS₃ trigonal-pyramidal coordination environment (green)
• PbS₆ distorted octahedra (orange)