upcScavenger » Potassium Minerals » Wiki: Picromerite

Picromerite

( Potassium Minerals )

Etymology
Occurrence
Properties
References
External links

C O N T E N T S

Bitter Found Minerals Picromerite

Rank: 100%

Wiki
Comments
Media

Picromerite (synonyms: schoenite, schönite) is a mineral from the class of hydrous Sulfate minerals lacking additional anions, and containing medium to large cations according to the Nickel–Strunz classification.

Etymology

The name comes from the Greek words πικρός pikros for "bitter" and μέρος meros for "part", and relates to the bitter taste of the mineral.

Occurrence

Picromerite is found on comparatively few places, currently (2015) only about 40 localities are known. It was first identified in active volcanic fumaroles on Mount Vesuvius by Arcangelo Scacchi in 1855 and has also been found in volcanic deposits on Mount Etna and on Hawai'i.

It is more commonly found in the kainite zones of some marine salt deposits, among them salt mines in Thuringia, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt (Germany), near Hall in Tirol, Hallstatt and Bad Ischl (Austria), near Whitby (UK), and in the Carlsbad Potash District (New Mexico), also on salt lakes in western China.

Picromerite can also form in sulfate-rich hydrothermal ore deposits and is found in slag heaps of some ore and coal mines.

Picromerite is often accompanied by anhydrite, epsomite, halite, hohmannite, kainite, metasideronatrite and metavoltine, depending on the locality.