Database of luminescent Minerals


BRANCHITE


DOUBTFULL FLUORESCENCE but cited by some authors

Chemical Formula: C20H34

Familly: Organic

Status:

Crystal System: Triclinic

Mineral for Display: No

Associated names (luminescent varieties, discredited names, synonymes etc.):  HARTITE

Luminescence:


UV Type Main color Intensity Observation Frequency
Long Waves (365nm):      Bluish White
Mid waves (320 nm):      Bluish White
Short Waves (254 nm):      Bluish White
 

Phosphorescence (in the common meaning of the term) seen by naked eye:


UV Type Color Intensity Observation Frequency
Long Wave (365nm): No data
Mid Waves (320 nm): No data
Short Waves (254 nm): No data
 

Comments:


Historical samples of branchite, described by the Tuscan naturalist Paolo Savi (1798–1871) at the end of the 1830s, were re-examined through single-crystal X-ray diffraction, showing their identity with hartite, C20H34, a hydrocarbon mineral described by Haidinger in 1841. As the name ‘branchite’ has priority over ‘hartite’, the reinstatement of the former name and the discreditation of the latter were approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA–CNMNC). Branchite is one of only eleven minerals formed by C and H listed in the official IMA List of Minerals. The type locality of branchite is the Botro di Lavajano, Monte Vaso, Chianni, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. (May 2022)

 

Natural cyclic hydrocarbon to be checked for luminescence (equivalent to α-phyllocladane)

The terpenoid minerals fichtelite (norabietane) and hartite (α-phyllocladane) seems to have a luminescence under UV LW. Some of these hydrocarbons occur in soil and peat environments of Holocene age. However, hartite occurs in lignite, in fossilised Glyptostrobus (Taxodiaceae) trees and in pelosiderites of the Bílina Miocene series (about 20 Ma); it represents the accumulated and crystallised product of diagenetic transformation of precursor biogenic terpenoids. Raman spectra of earth waxes investigated confirm their dominantly aliphatic character and oxidative degradation (related to weathering and/or subaerial alteration in museum cabinets).


Main Activator(s) and spectrum:


Most Common Activator: Intrinsic organic material

No spectrum for the moment


Best Locality for luminescence(*):


(*)Data are not exhaustive and are limited to the most important localities for fluorescence


Bibliographical Reference for luminescence:



Luminescence Reference on internet:



Mineralogical Reference on internet:


  http://www.mindat.org/show.php?name=Branchite

  http://webmineral.com/data/Branchite.shtml

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Note: While all due attention has been paid to the implementation of the database, it may contain errors and/or accidental omissions. By nature, the database will always be incomplete because science always evolves according to new analysis.
A request providing no result means only that no such reference exists in the database, but it does not mean that what you are looking for does not exist, just not to our knowledge. If you think you have found an error or omission, please let us know via the contact page being sure to cite the source of information.

 


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