hectorite
Sign in to saveHectorite is a rare soft, greasy, white, lithium-rich clay mineral with a chemical formula of .
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Hectorite
- Mineral.category
- Phyllosilicate minerals
- Mineral.group
- Smectite group
- Mineral.image
- Hectorite Hydrous magnesium iron silicate Hector, California.jpg
- Mineral.imagesize
- 200
- Mineral.caption
- Hectorite from California
- Mineral.formula
- Na0.3(Mg,Li)3Si4O10(OH)2(empirical: Na3(Mg,Li)30Si40O100(OH)20)
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Htr
- Mineral.strunz
- 9.EC.45
- Mineral.system
- Monoclinic
- Mineral.class
- Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol)
- Mineral.symmetry
- C2/m
- Mineral.unit cell
- a = 5.25 Å, b = 9.18 Å c = 16 Å; β = 99°; Z = 2
- Mineral.color
- White, cream, pale brown, mottled
- Mineral.habit
- Thin laths and aggregates
- Mineral.cleavage
- [001] Perfect
- Mineral.fracture
- Uneven
- Mineral.mohs
- 1–2
via Wikipedia infobox
Chemical data
- Formula
- H2LiMgNaO12Si4-2
- Molecular weight
- 360.6 g/mol
- IUPAC name
- lithium;magnesium;sodium;1,3,5,7-tetraoxido-2,4,6,8,9,10-hexaoxa-1,3,5,7-tetrasilatricyclo[5.1.1.13,5]decane;dihydroxide
via PubChem
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- smectite mineral group
- Mass
- +359.853
- Image
- Hectorite Hydrous magnesium iron silicate Hector, California.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- P534
- white
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
2 sectionsContents
- See also
- References
Hectorite is a rare soft, greasy, white, lithium-rich clay mineral with a chemical formula of .
Hectorite was first described in 1941 and named for an occurrence in the United States near Hector, California (in San Bernardino County, California, 30 miles east of Barstow). Hectorite belongs to the smectite group; it is a swelling 2:1 clay mineral. Hectorite occurs with bentonite as an alteration product of clinoptilolite from volcanic ash and tuff with a high glass content. Hectorite is also found in the beige/brown clay ghassoul, mined in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. A large deposit of hectorite is also found at the Thacker Pass lithium deposit, located within the McDermitt Caldera in Nevada. The Thacker Pass lithium deposit could be a significant source of lithium.