| Tasmanite | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| Category | Fossil resins |
| Formula (repeating unit) | C40H124O2S |
| Identification | |
| Color | reddish brown to brown |
| Crystal habit | narrow scaly lenses, difficult to separate from the main rock |
| Cleavage | absent |
| Fracture | conchoidal, viscous |
| Tenacity | viscous, soft mineral |
| Mohs scale hardness | ~ 2 |
| Luster | waxy, greasy |
| Streak | white |
| Diaphaneity | translucent |
| Density | ~ 1,8 |
Tasmanite, or Tasmanian amber (in the original sense of the word: “discovered in Tasmania”) — a rare regional mineraloid, a brownish-reddish fossilized organic resin from the island of Tasmania, formed in some deposits of the parent rock (tasmanite shale) and known by the same name: tasmanite.[1]: 376
Found in bituminized shales on the banks of the Mersey River (northern Tasmania), this mineral was examined and described in 1865 by Professor A. J. Church.[2] Meanwhile, translucent tasmanite is not formed everywhere where there are deposits of the sedimentary rock of the same name, but only in some layers.
Over the next century and a half, almost no new evidence appeared about Tasmanian amber.