How do I identify Carpathite?

Carpathite can be identified by its hardness of 1.5 on the Mohs scale, Yellow color. Look for these key characteristics when examining specimens.

What color is Carpathite?

Carpathite typically appears in Yellow, yellowish brown. Color can vary depending on impurities and formation conditions.

How hard is Carpathite?

Carpathite has a hardness of 1.5 on the Mohs scale. This makes it a soft mineral that can be scratched easily.

Carpathite

A variety of Minerals

What is Carpathite?

Carpathite is a very rare hydrocarbon mineral, consisting of exceptionally pure coronene (C24H12), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. The name has been spelled karpatite and the mineral was improperly renamed pendletonite.

Carpathite Market Value Calculator

Estimate the market value of Carpathite using size, quality, and finish. This preview calculator is for quick context and is not a formal appraisal.

Carpathite Localities Map

See where Carpathite is found with a localities map, collecting zones, and geology context. Generate a sample map preview below.

Map preview

North ZoneCentral RidgeSouth Basin

Key Characteristics

Formation of Carpathite

In the Ukraine discovery location, it occurs at the contact zone of a diorite intrusive into argillite within cavities, and is associated with idrialite, amorphous organic material, calcite, barite, quartz, cinnabar, and metacinnabar. It has also been reported in the Presov Region of the Slovak Republic and in the Kamchatka Oblast in Russia. In the California location, it occurs in centimeter-size veins, associated (and somewhat contemporaneous) with quartz and cinnabar, in a silicified matrix. Crystals are up to 10 × 1 × 1 mm. Carbon isotope ratios and the morphology of the deposit indicate that the coronene was produced from organic matter in oceanic sediment, thermally decomposed, purified through hydrothermal transportation and chemical reactions, and deposition below 250 °C, after the other minerals in the intrusion.