Named for Fred Donald Bloss, who lived to be 100 years old. He was born shortly after the first world war, and during
his lifetime plastic began to be mass-produced, the first transatlantic passenger flight happened (it took four days),
the first electronic computer was built, and man went into space for the first time. What a life!
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Formula: Cu2V5+2O7
Anhydrous vanadate, paramorph
of ziesite
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 3.95 to 3.97 measured, 4.051 calculated
Streak: Red-brown
Colour: Black
Environments
Localities
The type locality, the Izalco Volcano, Sonsonate Department, El Salvador, is a
basaltic stratovolcano that has been intermittently active since its
birth in 1770, with the latest eruption in 1966. Analyses of condensates demonstrated that
copper and vanadium were distinctive
elements in the fumarolic gases. The high-temperature vanadium mineral
shcherbinaite, was first discovered at Izalco.
Blossite was collected from the "Y" fumarole in the summit crater, in the outer sulphate zone of the fumarole,
indicating a sublimation temperature between 100oC and 200oC. Associated
copper vanadates in the fumarole
include stoiberite, ziesite,
fingerite and mcbirneyite.
Only a few crystals of blossite had been isolated to the time of writing (1987), generally 100 to 150 microns
in size
(AM 72.397-400).
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