colemanite
Sign in to saveColemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Colemanite
- Mineral.category
- Inoborates
- Mineral.image
- Colemanite - USGS Mineral Specimens 096.jpg
- Mineral.formula
- Ca2B6O11·5H2O
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Cole
- Mineral.strunz
- 6.CB.10
- Mineral.system
- Monoclinic
- Mineral.class
- Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol)
- Mineral.symmetry
- P21/a
- Mineral.unit cell
- a = 8.712(2) Å, b = 11.247(3) Å, c = 6.091(1) Å; β = 110.12°; Z = 4
- Mineral.color
- Colorless, white, yellowish, grey
- Mineral.habit
- Massive granular to coarsely crystalline, most commonly nodular.
- Mineral.cleavage
- [010] perfect, [001] distinct
- Mineral.fracture
- Brittle uneven to subconchoidal
- Mineral.mohs
- 4.5
- Mineral.luster
- Vitreous
- Mineral.refractive
- nα = 1.586 nβ = 1.592 nγ = 1.614
- Mineral.opticalprop
- Biaxial (+)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- ColemaniteUSGOV.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- Colemanite
- Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
- 6.CB.10
- Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
- 6.CB.10
- IMA Mineral Symbol
- Cole
- chemical formula
- CaB₃O₄(OH)₃·H₂O
- Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated)
- Vc/C.03
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Article
5 sectionsContents
- Uses
- Occurrence
- See also
- References
- External links
Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite.
It was first described in 1884 for an occurrence near Furnace Creek in Death Valley and was named after William Tell Coleman (1824–1893), owner of the mine "Harmony Borax Works" where it was first found. At the time, Coleman had alternatively proposed the name "smithite" instead after his business associate Francis Marion Smith.