Color Inspiration: Yellow Minerals

Currently, there are 4000 known minerals, with new discoveries being made year after year. Here are a few yellow minerals to inspire your next palette.

Color in Minerals

The absorption of light, and the apparent color, is determined by a mineral's atomic bonds which are made up of electrons that absorb certain wave lengths. The colors produced through absorption and emittance are usually produced by transition metals. Even trace amounts of these elements can have a drastic effect on color.

• Cobalt produces the violet-red color in erythrite, (cobalt arsenic sulfide).
• Chromium produces the color orange-red color of crocoite, (lead chromate).
• Copper produces the azure blue color of azurite, (copper carbonate hydroxide).
• Iron produces the red color of limonite, (hydrated iron oxide hydroxide).
• Manganese produces the pink color of rhodochrosite, (manganese carbonate).
• Nickel produces the green color of annabergite, (hydrated nickel arsenate).
• Uranium produces the yellow color of zippeite, (hydrated potassium uranyl sulfate hydroxide).
• Vanadium produces the red-orange color of vanadinite, (lead vanadate chloride).

© Paul M. Schumacher

Meta-autunite  Color    Yellow, Greenish yellow, Yellowish green     Location    Daybreak Mine, Spokane County, Washington, U.S.A     Luster    Pearly

© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Tungstite  Color    Yellow, Yellow green, Yellow green, Light yellow     Location    San Antonio de Calacalani mine, Cercado, Oruro, Bolivia     Luster    Earthy (Dull)     Streak    Yellow

© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Eglestonite  Color    Brown, Brownish yellow, Yellow, Dark brown, Orange     Location    Landsberg (Moschellandsberg), Obermoschel, Palatinate, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany     Luster    Adamantine - Resinous     Streak    light yellow

© Tom Loomis / Dakota Matrix

Tyuyamunite  Color    Greenish yellow, Yellow     Location    Marie mine, Carbon County, Montana, USA     Luster    Adamantine - Pearly     Streak    light yellow

© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Crocoite  Color    Yellow, Orange, Red, Red orange     Location    Callenberg North open cut, Callenberg, Glauchau, Saxony, Germany     Luster    Adamantine     Streak    yellowish orange

© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Cliffordite  Color    Yellow, Sulfur yellow     Location    Candelaria Mine, Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico     Luster    Adamantine     Streak    light yellow

© Jeff Weissman / Photographic Guide to Minerals

Asbecasite  Color    Lemon, Brownish     Location    Cervandone, Val d'Ossola, Lombardy, Italy     Luster    Vitreous (Glassy)

© Dave Barthelmy

Wakabayashilite  Color    Golden yellow, Lemon     Location    White Cap mine, Nye County, Nevada, USA     Luster    Silky     Streak    orange

© Lou Perloff / Photo Atlas of Minerals

Metavoltine  Color    Greenish brown, Yellow brown, Orange brown, Lemon     Location    Carola Mine, Freital, near Dresden, Saxony, Germany     Luster    Resinous     Streak    brownish yellow

© Lou Perloff / Photo Atlas of Minerals

Curienite  Color    Canary yellow     Location    Mouonana, Haut-Ogoue, Gabon     Luster    Adamantine - Pearly     Streak    light yellow

Copyright © Tom Loomis / Dakota Matrix

Cacoxenite  Color    Brownish yellow, Green, Yellow, Golden yellow, Red yellow     Location    El Horcajo (Ciudad Real), Spain     Luster    Silky     Streak    yellow

Copyright © Lou Perloff / Photo Atlas of Minerals

Billietite  Color    Yellow brown, Golden yellow     Location    Shinkolobwe mine, Tantara, Shaba, Democratic Republic of the Congo     Luster    Adamantine     Streak    yellow

© Paul M. Schumacher

Billietite  Color    Green, Gray green, Yellow, Yellow brown, Reddish orange     Location    Kambove, (Kakanda) Mine, Katanga District, Shaba (Katanga), Republic of the Congo     Luster    Resinous - Greasy     Streak    light brownish yellow

© Paul M. Schumacher

Billietite  Color    Yellow, straight up     Location    Posey Mine, White Canyon District, San Juan County, Utah, USA     Luster    Vitreous - Adamantine     Streak    yellow white

Sulfur  Color    Yellow, Yellowish brown, Yellowish gray, Reddish, Greenish     Location    Can be found near hot springs and volcanic regions in many parts of the world, especially along the Pacific Ring of Fire     Luster    Resinous     Streak    white

A Mineral, Not a Rock

A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite chemical composition and a specific crystalline structure. A rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals. (A rock may also include organic remains and mineraloids.) Some rocks are predominantly composed of just one mineral. For example, limestone is a sedimentary rock composed almost entirely of the mineral calcite. Other rocks contain many minerals, and the specific minerals in a rock can vary widely. Some minerals, like quartz, mica or feldspar are common, while others have been found in only one or two locations worldwide. The vast majority of the rocks of the Earth's crust consist of quartz, feldspar, mica, chlorite, kaolin, calcite, epidote, olivine, augite, hornblende, magnetite, hematite, limonite and a few other minerals. Over half of the mineral species known are so rare that they have only been found in a handful of samples, and many are known from only one or two small grains.

Commercially valuable minerals and rocks are referred to as industrial minerals. Rocks from which minerals are mined for economic purposes are referred to as ores (the rocks and minerals that remain, after the desired mineral has been separated from the ore, are referred to as tailings).
- Wikipedia: Minerals

Minerals are categorized by their chemical composition, atomic structure and physical properties. The physical properties being:

• Color indicates the appearance of the mineral in reflected light or transmitted light for translucent minerals (i.e. what it looks like to the naked eye).
• Streak refers to the color of the powder a mineral leaves after rubbing it on an unglazed porcelain streak plate. Note that this is not always the same color as the original mineral.
• Lustre indicates the way a mineral's surface interacts with light and can range from dull to glassy (vitreous).
• Other properties: crystal structure and habit, hardness, iridescence (play of colors due to surface or internal interference), cleavage, fracture, specific gravity, fluorescence (response to ultraviolet light), magnetism, radioactivity, tenacity (response to mechanical induced changes of shape or form), piezoelectricity and reactivity to dilute acids.

Header image by courgettelawn.

Sources: Mineral Gallery, Wikipedia: Minerals, Mineralogy Database