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Fraipontite

Cave Name:

Promeszutochnaya Cave, Cupp-Coutunn Cave System, Turkmenistan

Speleothems:

  • isolated, spherical globules, with no microstructure and shelly macrostructure, located on the calcitic wall coatings

  • thin layers (0.5-1mm) inside calcite wall coatings and stalactites

  • green powder on fluorite crystals

Frequency: Extremely Rare

First description of cave occurrence:

  • Maltzev, V.A. & Belakowsky, D. 1992. Das Höhlensystem Kap-Kutan in der Bergen des Kugitang in Ost Turkmenien. Lapis Minerallien Magazine 17(2): 13-18

First description of non-cave occurrence:

  • Cesàro, G. 1927. Sur la fraipontite, silicate basique hydraté de zinc et d'aluminum. Annales de la Société Géologique de Belgique 50: 106-110

Length: 2550

Depth: 95

Water: only temporary floods

Type of rock:

  • Upper Jurassic limestone, which, together with a flysch sequence, unconformably overlay Precambrian gneisses intruded by a granitic batholit.

Cave temperature (°C): 22

Cave humidity (%): 70-100

IMA status: Approved

Group: Silicates

Chemical formula:
[According to the official IMA-CNMNC List of Mineral Names (http://nrmima.nrm.se/imalist.htm)]

(Zn,Al)3(Si,Al)2O5(OH)4

Color: green (due to the Ni content)
Mineral assemblage:

  • + sauconite (forming globules and in calcite as thin layers)

  • on fluorite
Crystal system:
  • Monoclinic
General info:

  • Named in honor of Belgium paleontologists Julien Jean Joseph Fraipont (1857 - 1910) and his son, Charles Marie Joseph Julien Fraipont (1883 - 1946)
Related References:

  • Maltzev, V.A. & Self, C.A. 1992. Cup-Coutunn cave system, Turkmenistan, Central Asia. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society 19(2): 117-149

  • Berkeliev, T.K., Pautov, C.A. & Ignatenko, K.I. 1992. Frainpontite - a find in Turkmenistan. Mineralogical Journal 1/2: 84-87 (in Russian)

Cited in Cave Minerals of the World:
[Hill, C.A. & Forti, P. 1997. Cave Minerals of the World (2nd ed.). National Speleological Society Huntsville, AL, 464 pp.]

  • Yes, page 182



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