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Hexacelsian
A rare hexagonal barium feldspar from Israel's Hatrurim Basin, where rocks were baked by pyrometamorphism.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Hexacelsian is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the silicate class, with the chemical formula Ba(Al₂Si₂O₈).
It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system (space group P6_3/mcm). It is a member of the Dmisteinbergite structural group.
Key properties: specific gravity 3.305; White streak; Vitreous luster.
IMA symbol Hcls, IMA status: approved, named in 2015.
A common accessory mineral in thin veins of paralava cutting gehlenite-flamite hornfels and formed at > 1100° C from the relatively fast crystallization of residual melt.
It is found associated with Gurimite, rankinite, gehlenite, pseudowollastonite, schorlomite, fluorapatite- fluorellestadite, minerals of the zadovite-aradite series, walstromite.
Historical name of the synthetic phase with structure and composition analogous to the mineral described in this paper and named after Anders Celsius (1701-1744), Swedish astronomer, physicist.