sepiolite
Sign in to saveAlso known as Meerschaum
Sepiolite, also known in English by the German name meerschaum ( , ; ; meaning "sea foam"), is a soft white clay mineral, often used to make tobacco pipes (known as meerschaum pipes). A complex magnesium silicate, a typical chemical formula for which is Mg4Si6O15(OH)2·6H2O, it can be present in fibrous, fine-particulate, and solid forms.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Sepiolite
- Mineral.category
- Phyllosilicate minerals
- Mineral.image
- Mineraly.sk - sepiolit.jpg
- Mineral.imagesize
- 260px
- Mineral.formula
- Mg4Si6O15(OH)2·6H2O
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Sep
- Mineral.strunz
- 9.EE.25
- Mineral.dana
- 74.03.01b.01 Palygorskite-sepiolite group
- Mineral.system
- Orthorhombic
- Mineral.class
- Dipyramidal (mmm) H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
- Mineral.symmetry
- Pnna
- Mineral.unit cell
- a = 5.21 Å, b = 26.73 Å c = 13.5 Å; Z = 4
- Mineral.color
- Grayish white, white, white with a yellowish or reddish tinge; bluish green
- Mineral.habit
- Compact nodular, earthy, clayey, massive; rarely fine fibrous along [001]
- Mineral.mohs
- 2
- Mineral.luster
- Dull, earthy
- Mineral.streak
- White
- Mineral.diaphaneity
- Opaque
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- palygorskite
- Named after
- stone
- Image
- Sepiyolit.jpg
- Said to be same as
- meerschaum
- Has use
- food additive
Show 11 more facts
- Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
- 9.EE.25
- Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
- 9.EE.25
- Commons category
- Sepiolite
- crystal system
- orthorhombic crystal system
- type locality (geology)
- Bettolino
- streak color
- white
- Mohs' hardness
- 2.25
- IMA Mineral Symbol
- Sep
- chemical formula
- Mg₄Si₆O₁₅(OH)₂·6H₂O
- Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated)
- VIII/E.13b
- P8168
- Karin Jäger
Sources (5)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Location
- Applications
- Carved pipes
- Other uses and substitutes
- See also
- References
- External links
Sepiolite, also known in English by the German name meerschaum ( , ; ; meaning "sea foam"), is a soft white clay mineral, often used to make tobacco pipes (known as meerschaum pipes). A complex magnesium silicate, a typical chemical formula for which is Mg4Si6O15(OH)2·6H2O, it can be present in fibrous, fine-particulate, and solid forms.
The fibrous clay minerals have recently been shown to exist as a continuous polysomatic series where the endmembers are sepiolite and palygorskite. There is a continuous variation in chemical composition from sepiolite, the most magnesic and trioctahedral endmember, to palygorskite, the least magnesic, most Al- and Fe-bearing, most dioctahedral endmember.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sepiolite” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.