Wurtzite

Usually found as black to dark reddish-brown massive resinous to sub-metallic material, also as botryoidal banded crusts, and more rarely as hemimorphic pyramidal, or tabular, crystals. Several polytypes are known; the hexagonal 2H polytype is the most common. Haussühl and Müller (1963) also mention the 4H, 6H, 8H, 10H, and 15R ones. Forms a series with greenockite, hexagonal CdS.

History

Activities related to discovery and approval of the group members

Structural context

Wurtzite
Crystal System hexagonalCrystal Class dihexagonal pyramidalSpace Group P63mc
a3.811—3.849 (3.8289)
b3.811—3.849 (3.8289)
c6.234—12.575 (7.5465)
alpha90
beta90
gamma120
volume78.411—161.337 (95.9718)

Based on 5 measurements

Chemical context

Stoichiometric formulas

Wurtzite
mindat.org
  • March 13, 2023(Zn,Fe)S
IMA
  • March 13, 2023ZnS
mineralogy.rocks
  • Aug. 30, 2022(Zn,Fe)S2-

Elements recorded on EPMA

4
S
4
Zn
1
Fe

Physical properties

ColorColor entities, recognized using a custom trained NER model
  • dark reddish-brown
  • orange-brown
    Color noteOriginal color note from the source
    Dark reddish-brown to black, orange-brown
    StreakStreak entities, recognized using a custom trained NER model
      Streak noteOriginal streak note from the source
      Brown
      Lustre
      Resinous
      Fracture
      Irregular/Uneven
      Transparency
      Translucent
      Tenacity
      brittle
      Hardness
      3.5—4
      Measured density
      4—4.1
      Calculated density
      4.09