Atacamite is a copper halide mineral: a copper(II) chloride hydroxide with formula Cu2Cl(OH)3. It was first described from deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile in 1802 by Dmitri Alekseyevich Golitsyn.
Occurrence
Atacamite is polymorphous with
botallackite,
clinoatacamite, and
paratacamite.
Atacamite is a comparatively rare mineral, formed from primary copper minerals in the
oxidation or
weathering zone of arid climates. It has also been reported as a volcanic sublimate from
fumarole deposits, as sulfide alteration products in
.
The mineral has also been found naturally on oxidized copper deposits in Chile,
China,
Russia,
Czech Republic,
Arizona, and
Australia.
It occurs in association with
cuprite,
brochantite,
linarite,
caledonite,
malachite,
chrysocolla and its polymorphs.
Synthetic occurrence
Atacamite has been discovered in the patina of the Statue of Liberty, and as alteration of ancient
bronze and copper artifacts. The bronze of the Antikythera mechanism had turned to atacamite under the sea.
The mineral has been found as a pigment in sculpture, Manuscript, Map, and Fresco discovered in Eurasia, Russia, and Persia.
Biomineral
Atacamite occurs as a biomineral in the jaws of bloodworms.
External links
 2012-07-20.jpg/){kind=link}
