Tasmanite (mineral)
| Tasmanite | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| Category | Fossil resins |
| Formula | C40H124O2S |
| Identification | |
| Color | reddish brown to brown |
| Crystal habit | narrow scaly lenses, difficult to separate from the main rock |
| Cleavage | absent |
| Fracture | conchoidal, viscous |
| Tenacity | viscous, soft mineral |
| Mohs scale hardness | ~ 2 |
| Luster | waxy, greasy |
| Streak | white |
| Diaphaneity | translucent |
| Density | ~ 1,8 |
Tasmanite, or Tasmanian amber (in the original sense of the word: “discovered in Tasmania”) — a rare regional mineraloid, a brownish-reddish fossilized organic resin from the island of Tasmania, formed in some deposits of the parent rock (tasmanite shale) and known by the same name: tasmanite.: 376
Found in bituminized shales on the banks of the Mersey River (northern Tasmania), this mineral was examined and described in 1865 by Professor A. J. Church. Meanwhile, translucent tasmanite is not formed everywhere where there are deposits of the sedimentary rock of the same name, but only in some layers.
Over the next century and a half, almost no new evidence appeared about Tasmanian amber.