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Sulphohalite
Current inventory:  0 gems
 

  
Sulphohalite's name is derived from its composition, containing SULPHur, plus Greek "hals", meaning salt, alluding to its content of halogens.

Discovered in 1888;   IMA status: Valid (pre-IMA; Grandfathered)

Chemistry

Chemical Formula:

Na₆(SO₄)₂FCl

Sodium Sulfur Fluorine Sulfate

Molecular Weight:

384.52 gm

Composition: 

Classification

Mineral Classification:

Sulfates

Strunz 8th Ed. ID:

6/B.12-10

Nickel-Strunz 10th Ed. ID:

7.BD.05

7 : SULFATES (selenates, tellurates, chromates, molybdates, wolframates)
B : Sulfates (selenates, etc.) with additional anions, without H₂O
D : With only large cations

Related to:

Sulphohalite Group

Synonyms:

Sulfohalite

Crystal Data

Crystallography:

Isometric - Hexoctahedral

Crystal Habit:

Octahedral, dodecahedral, cubic, or in combinations thereof, to 3 cm.

Twinning:

None

Physical Properties

Cleavage:

{???} Perfect

Fracture:

Conchoidal to Sub-Conchoidal

Tenacity:

Brittle

Moh's Hardness:

3.5

Density:

2.489 - 2.50 (g/cm³)

Luminescence:

Fluorescent and Phosphorescent; bright white to creamy white under LW UV

Radioactivity:

Not Radioactive  

Other:

Slowly soluble in cold water.

Optical Properties

Color:

Colorless, Gray, Greenish Yellow; Colorless in transmitted light

Transparency:

Transparent

Luster:

Vitreous to Greasy (weak)

Refractive Index:

1.455 Isotropic

Birefringence:

0.0140

Dispersion:

Very high

Pleochroism:

Very Strong

Anisotrophism:

Very Strong; Color in reflected light:

Occurances

Geological Setting:

In evaporite deposits (Searles Lake, California, USA; Otjiwalundo salt pan, Namibia); a volcanic sublimate (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia).

Common Associations:

Halite, Hanksite, (Searles Lake, California, USA); Pirssonite, Thánardite, Trona (Otjiwalundo salt pan, Namibia)

Type Locality:

Searles Lake, San Bernardino Co., California, USA

Year Discovered:

1888

View mineral photos:

Sulphohalite Mineral Photos and Locations

More Information

Mindat.org
Webmineral.com

Sulphohalite is a rare sodium sulfate evaporite mineral that only occurs in three locations in the world; Namibia, Russia and California, USA. The most well known and best location for gemmy crystals is Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA. At Searles Lake Sulphohalite is associated with Halite and Hanksite.

Sulphohalite can be found at the Otjiwalundo salt pan, about 400 km west-northwest of Otavi, Namibia; from volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia; and Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA.
 

  
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