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Wulfenite (Photo)

Year of discovery: 1845 (Bad Bleiberg, Austria), 1895 (Japan)

Locality list: 23 localities of wulfenite

• PbMoO₄
• [Pb²⁺][MoO₄]^2-

• Class: Wulfenite group
• Class: Molybdate
• Soluble in: HCl (Decompose), HNO₃ (Decompose), concentrated H₂SO₄, KOH, NaOH
• Fluorescence: UV excitation (Some examples, Yellow-Red)
• Electrical: Piezoelectric (Some examples)
• Alter to Descloizite, Vanadinite, or Lisemannite.

• Pb => (BiO)₂: Koechlinite
• Pb => Ca: Powellite

• MoO₄ => WO₄: Stolzite (Series), Raspite

• Color: Orange, Yellow, Reddish brown
• Streak: Pale yellow
• Luster: Adamantine
• Diaphaneity: Transparent-Opaque

• Habit: Platy

• Cleavage: Distinct on {011} (4 planes), Indistinct on {001} and {013} (5 planes)
• Hardness: 2.5-3
• Density: 6.9

• System: Tetragonal
• Group: 4/m, I4₁/a
• Lattice: a=5.4, c=12.1

Etymology: Franz Xavier von Wulfen (1728-1805), Austrian mineralogist