Mineral Guide · Mineral
Native mercury is elemental liquid mercury, recognised by its bright mobile droplets and association with mercury-bearing hydrothermal deposits.
Native mercury is elemental liquid mercury, recognised by its bright mobile droplets and association with mercury-bearing hydrothermal deposits.
Reference formula: Hg. Mercury is liquid at ordinary room temperature, so a conventional room-temperature crystal lattice is not applicable to a specimen page. It freezes only below about −39 °C; the material is highly toxic and must be treated as a sealed scientific reference. Native Mercury is classified with elements and has a not applicable because no single room-temperature lattice is assigned crystal system. Typical hardness is -39–-38 on the Mohs scale and specific gravity is approximately 13.5–13.6.
Typical colours include silver-white, grey, bright metallic. The usual liquid, globular, massive habit and metallic lustre help describe a specimen, but colour alone is not diagnostic.
Native Mercury forms in or is associated with low-temperature volcanic and hydrothermal cinnabar deposits and near-surface reduction zones. Important documented localities include Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Mexico, the United States, China and Kyrgyzstan.
Native mercury is a spectacular example of a geological element whose physical state is part of its identity. It must be presented as a hazardous scientific material, never as a decorative mineral.
Highly toxic: never handle an open sample, heat or spill it; use sealed certified containers and professional hazardous-material procedures. No lattice is shown for the room-temperature material.
Reviewed by NotOnlyRocks Editorial Team
Last reviewed: 28 August 2026
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