Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T14:04:12.505Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sideronatrite and metasideronatrite efflorescence formed in a coastal sea-spray environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

L. A. J. Garvie*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA

Abstract

Sideronatrite [Na2Fe(SO4)2(OH)·3H2O] occurs as yellow botryoidal encrustations on low cliffs of weathered pyrite-bearing mudstones at Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, England. Extensive areas of the cliffs, up to ∼100 m2, are coated with sideronatrite and its low solubility in cold water secures its longevity. Dry samples of sideronatrite convert readily to metasideronatrite [Na2Fe(SO4)2(OH)·H2O], the reaction to sideronatrite being reversible. Sideronatrite, it is suggested, forms as a result of weathering of pyrite that is present in the argillaceous sediments and reaction with Na from the sea-salt spray.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banfield, J.F., and Nealson, K.H., eds (1997) Geomicrobiology: Interactions between microbes and minerals. Reviews in Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington D.C., 35, 448 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bundy, M.C., (1938) Mineralogy of three sulphate deposits of Northern Chile. Amer. Mineral., 23, 669760.Google Scholar
Burton, E. St.J. (1933) Faunal horizons of the Barton Beds in Hampshire. Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond., 44, 131–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Césbron, F. (1964) Contribution à la minéralogie des sulfates de fer hydratés. Bull. Soc. franç. Mineral. Crystallogr., 87, 125–43.Google Scholar
Dent, D. (1986) Acid sulphate soils: a baseline for research and development. International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement ILRI, Publication 39, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Gaines, R.V., Skinner, H.C.W., Foord, E.E., Mason, B. and Rosenzweig, A. (1997) Dana's New Mineralogy, Eighth Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Hutton, C.O., (1970) Coquimbite from Nevis, West Indies. Mineral. Mag., 37, 939–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, R.J., (1998) Tamarugite on the Isle of Wight, UK. Mineral. Mag., 62, 371–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, B.A.O., and Jones, J.M., (1966) Sideronatrite from mineralized cavities in the Rising Sun colliery, Backworth, Northumberland. Mineral. Mag., 35, 983–90.Google Scholar
Ryback, G. and Tandy, P.C., (1992) Eigth supplementary list of British Isles minerals (English). Mineral. Mag., 56, 261–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scordari, F. and Milella, G. (1982) Metasideronatrite: a mixture of coexisting compounds. Neues Jahrb. Miner. Mh., 6, 255–64.Google Scholar
Scordari, F., Stasi, F. and Milella, G. (1982) Concerning metasideronatrite. Neues. Jahrb. Miner. Mh., 8, 341–7.Google Scholar
Segnit, E.R., (1976) Tamarugite from Anglesea, Victoria, Australia. Mineral. Mag., 40, 642–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Breemen, N. (1976) Genesis and solution chemistry of acid sulphate soils in Thailand. Pudoc, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E.L., Wiltshire, J. and McCandlish, K. (1979) Hydrated sulfates in the Sydney coalfield of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. II. Pyrite and its alteration products. Canad. Mineral., 17, 63–70.Google Scholar