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Kainite ( or ) (KMg(SO4)Cl·3H2O) is an evaporite mineral in the class of "Sulfates (selenates, etc.) with additional anions, with H2O" according to the Nickel–Strunz classification. It is a hydrated potassium-magnesium sulfate-chloride, naturally occurring in irregular granular masses or as crystalline coatings in cavities or fissures. This mineral is dull and soft, and is colored white, yellowish, grey, reddish, or blue to violet. Its name is derived from Greek καινος kainos ("(hitherto) unknown"), as it was the first mineral discovered that contained both sulfate and chloride as . Kainite forms monoclinic crystals.
Kainite is a typical secondary mineral that forms through metamorphosis in marine deposits of potassium carbonate, and is also occasionally formed through resublimation from volcanic vapours. It is often paragenesis by anhydrite, carnallite, halite, and kieserite.
Kainite is only found in comparatively few places, among them in salt mines in central and northern Germany, Bad Ischl (Austria), on Pasquasia in Sicily, in Whitby (UK), and in the Carlsbad Potash District in New Mexico, in volcanic deposits in KamchatkaPekov, Igor V., et al. "New zinc and potassium chlorides from fumaroles of the Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Russia: mineral data and crystal chemistry. II. Flinteite, K2ZnCl4." European Journal of Mineralogy (2015): ejm2459_pap_gsw. and in Iceland,Jacobsson et al (1992) Encrustations from Lava Caves on Surtsey, Iceland. A Preliminary Report: Surtsey Research Progress Report X: 73-78 Reykjevik, Iceland. and in salt lakes in western China. It has also been identified in Gusev Crater on Mars.Rice, M. S., et al. "Silica-rich deposits and hydrated minerals at Gusev Crater, Mars: Vis-NIR spectral characterization and regional mapping." Icarus 205.2 (2010): 375-395.
It can also be produced from bittern remaining after removal of table salt from seawater.
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