Shungite

[Guest guest]

At 02:19 AM 6/18/03 -0400, you wrote:

>Shungite is not a crystal. It is composed of about 70% crystalline silicates

>held in a matrix of 30% carbon. The biggest deposit is near the village of

>Shunga in Karelia, Russia, but there are other smaller deposits, one in

>Tajikistan.

>Michael.

 

To add to Michael's information, I found these to be of interest also:

 

http://www.mindat.org/min-11040.html

Shungite is elementary noncrystalline carbon with a metastable structure

incapable of graphitization, it is also used as a term to describe a

sequence of metamorphic rocks from the Karelia region of Russia containing

such carbon. Fullerines have been discovered in such rock.

 

http://www.unm.edu/~rzyla/active_molecule.html

First evidence of naturally occuring fullerenes was found by Arizona State

University researchers Semeon Tsipursky and Peter Buseck when they examined

a sample of shiny black rock known as shungite, from the Karelian Republic

in Northern Russia. Shungite is a rare, carbon rich variety of rock

believed to have been formed between 600 million and 4 billion years ago,

although how it was formed is debateable.

 

In Artist's Pigments it is known as Carbon Black.

http://www.iconofile.com/pigments_shungite.asp

Shungite (Carbon Black)

Shungite is an amorphous variety of graphite of intense black color. Found

only in the Shunga region of Karelia, Russia, it exhibits excellent hiding

power, and in mixtures with other pigments imparts a deep black tone with a

cool tint.

 

 

Byron