Low Pike north slopes, Caldbeck, Allerdale, Cumbria, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Low Pike north slopes	- not defined -
Caldbeck	Civil Parish
Allerdale	District
Cumbria	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Low Pike north slopes, Caldbeck Fells Mining Region, Cumbria, England, UK

Habit: tabular up to 2mm long

Description: As solid masses to 30cm and as small, complex, water-clear crystals on cornwallite, from an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358].

Habit: thin crusts on quartz; pseudomorphs after mimetite with cornwallite, beudantite etc.

Colour: light green

Description: From an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358]. Identified by infra-red spectrophotometry at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).

Habit: rhombohedra; crusts

Colour: yellow; golden yellow, slightly iridescent

Description: Cooper & Stanley (1990): "On one recently collected specimen, beudantite occurs as minute, golden yellow, slightly iridescent rhombohedra on iron-stained quartz with mimetite, bayldonite, and cornwallite from an old trial on the Low Pike vein above Potts Gill [NY320358] (M.P. Cooper Collection, det. BM(NH): XRD). Also as a minutely crystalline yellow crust (B. Young, pers. comm., det. British Geological Survey (BGS): XRD)."

Description: Cooper & Stanley (1990): "a rare associate of cornwallite, malachite etc. from an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358] (det. Leeds Univ.: XRD; D.I. Green, pers. comm.)."

Description: M.P. Cooper Collection.

Habit: thin, drusy crusts

Colour: bright turquoise

Description: First identified by Cooper & Stanley (1990) on a few specimens collected by D.R. Middleton, cornwallite is fairly common in small amounts on dump material from an old trial on the Low Pike vein above Potts Gill [NY320358]. It forms thin, drusy, crusts of a bright turquoise colour in fractures in vein quartz with mimetite, bayldonite, philipsburgite, beudantite, and baryte (det. BM(NH): XRD). A similar, but darker green mineral has been identified as a phosphatian variety (M.P. Cooper Collection, det. University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST): IR).

Habit: crusts

Colour: yellow

Description: Cooper & Stanley (1990): "very rarely, as a yellow crust with bayldonite from a small trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358] (det. British Geological Survey (BGS): XRD, B. Young, pers. comm.)."

Description: Cooper & Stanley (1990) p. 100: "An old trial on the Low Pike vein above Potts Gill [320358] yielded small amounts of minutely crystalline philipsburgite containing considerable phosphate substituting for arsenate. The IR spectra of some samples (M.P. Cooper Collection) suggested that the substitution proportion might be sufficient to render the mineral kipushite [Braithwaite & Ryback, 1988]. However, specimens analysed by XRD (BM(NH)) are closer to philipsburgite and a well-crystallized sample, from the D. Hacker Collection, analysed semi-quantitatively by EPMA shows a somewhat higher arsenate: phosphate ratio than type philipsburgite. (det. Leicester Univ.)." Cooper & Stanley (1990) p. 115: "Although the high phosphate content of one specimen analysed by IR led Braithwaite & Ryback (1988) to suggest that it may, in fact, be a highly arsenatian kipushite this species has not so far been identified by XRD from Low Pike. Moreover, a semi-quantitative analysis of a well-crystallized sample shows an As/AS+P ratio slightly higher than type philipsburgite (det. J. Faithfull, Leicester Univ.: EPMA."

Habit: radiating fibrous masses

Description: Cooper & Stanley (1990): "In small quantities as radiating fibrous masses with cornwallite, philipsburgite etc. from an old trial on the Low Pike vein at [NY320358] (det. Leeds Univ.: XRD)."

Habit: crystalline crust

Colour: yellow

Description: From an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358]. Det. British Geological Survey (BGS): XRD (B. Young, pers. comm.)

Description: An intermediate mimetite-pyromorphite (c. 1:1 phosphate:arsenate) phase, occurring as small olive green crystals on baryte from an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358], has been identified by IR (M.P. Cooper Collection, det. University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)).

Habit: thin encrustations

Colour: greenish brown

Description: With bayldonite from an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358] (N. Thomson Collection, det. BM(NH): XRD).

Habit: tabular; fibrous aggregates; botryoidal crusts with a radiating foliated structure

Colour: apple green; pale turquoise; pale green to white

Habit: thin porcellanous crusts

Colour: turquoise-blue

Description: Cooper & Stanley (1990): "From an old trial on the Low Pike vein [NY320358] as thin porcellanous pale turquoise-blue crusts on quartz with bayldonite; significant arsenic substitutes for phosphorus in these specimens (M.P. Cooper Collection, det. University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST): IR). Several specimens have also been identified by XRD at the British Geological Survey (BGS) (B. Young, pers. comm.)."