Bieberite (CoSO₄ · 7H₂O) is a pinkish red colored

sulfate mineral The sulfate minerals are a class of minerals that include the sulfate ion () within their structure. The sulfate minerals occur commonly in primary evaporite depositional environments, as gangue minerals in hydrothermal Vein (geology), veins and as ...

high in

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

content. The name is derived from the type locality at the copper deposit in Bieber,

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

.Mindat.org - Bieberite
/ref>Webmineral.com - Bieberite
/ref> It has been described and reported as far back as the 1700s.Sage (1791) ''Le Journal de physique et le radium, Paris'', 39: 53 (as Cobalt Vitriol).Klaproth, M.H. (1797) "''Untersuchung des natürlichen Kobaltvitriols von Herrengrund, Beiträge zur chemischen Kenntniss der Mineralkörper"'', Zweiter Band, Rottmann Berlin, pp. 320.Kopp (1808) ''Allgemeines Journal der Chemie, Berlin 1798-1803 (Scherer’s Journal)'', 6: 157 (as Kobaltvitriol).Beudant, F.S. (1832) ''Trailé élémentaire de Minéralogie, second edition, 2 volumes'', 2: 481 (as Red Vitrol. Sulphate of Cobalt. Rhodhalose).Haidinger (1845) 489 (as Bieberit).Winkelblech (1845) ''Ann. Chem.'', 13: 265.Marignac (1855) ''Mém. soc. phys. nat. Genève'', 14: 245 (artificial material).Goldschmidt, V. (1913) ''Atlas der Krystallformen. 9 volumes, atlas, and text'', 1: 194.Larsen, E.S. and Glenn (1920
“Some minerals of the melanterite and chalcanthite groups with optical data on the hydrous sulphates of manganese and cobalt“
''American Journal of Science'', 50: 225-233.Westenbrink (1926) ''Proceedings of the Academy of Science Amsterdam'', 29: 1223.Porter (1928) ''Festschr. V. Goldschmidt'', Heidelberg, 210.Palache, C., Berman, H., Frondel, C. (1951) "''The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II: Halides, Nitrates, Borates, Carbonates, Sulfates, Phosphates, Arsenates, Tungstates, Molybdates, Etc."'' John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 7th edition, revised and enlarged: pp. 507. Bieberite primarily occurs as a secondary mineral, forming in cobalt-bearing

arsenide In chemistry, an arsenide is a compound of arsenic with a less electronegative element or elements. Many metals form binary compounds containing arsenic, and these are called arsenides. They exist with many Stoichiometry, stoichiometries, and in t ...

and

sulfide Sulfide (also sulphide in British English) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to large families o ...

deposits through

oxidation Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...

.Handbook of Mineralogy - Bieberite
/ref> Natural bieberite crystals may have a small amount of cobalt lattice sites instead occupied by

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

(Palache et al., 1960).

Geologic occurrence

Aside from the type locality at Hesse, Germany bieberite has been found in multiple countries in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, as well as in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

bieberite was identified for the first time in the 2000s at the Lavrion Pb- Ag- Zn deposit, a polymetallic sulfide deposit that underwent

supergene A supergene is a chromosomal region encompassing multiple neighboring genes that are inherited together because of close genetic linkage, i.e. much less recombination than would normally be expected. This mode of inheritance can be due to genomic ...

oxidation during its formation.Skarpelis, N. And Argyraki, A. (2009
“Geology and Origin of Supergene Ore at the Lavrion Pb-Ag-Zn Deposit, Attica, Greece”
''Resource Geology'', 59(1): 1-14. In

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, bieberite has been found at mines Penberthy Croft Mine and Wheal Alfred in St Hilary,

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and Phillack, Cornwall respectively.Golley, P. and Williams, R. (1995) "''Cornish Mineral Reference Manual."'' Endsleigh Publications, Great Britain
Online pdf
. Bieberite was identified in volcanic cave settings for the first time at

Irazú Volcano The Irazú Volcano () is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. The name might have come from either the combination of "ara" (point) and "tzu" (thunder) or a corruption of ''Iztar ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and reported in 2018.Ulloa, A., Gázquez, F., Sanz-Arranz, A., Medina, J., Rull, F., Calaforra, J.M., Alvarado, G.E., Martínez, M., Avard, G., de Moor, J.M., and Waele, J.D. (2018
“Extremely high diversity of sulfate minerals in caves of the Irazú Volcano (Costa Rica) related to crater lake and fumarolic activity”
''International Journal of Speleology'', 47(2): 229-246. The mineral roemerite was identified at Island Mountain, Trinity County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

for the first time in association with bieberite along with

pyrrhotite Pyrrhotite (''Pyrrhus of Epirus, pyrrhos'' in Greek language, Greek meaning "flame-coloured"'')'' is an iron sulfide mineral with the formula Fe(1−x)S (x = 0 to 0.125). It is a nonstoichiometric compound, nonstoichiometric variant of FeS, th ...

, claudetite,

goslarite Goslarite is a water of crystallization, hydrated zinc sulfate mineral () which was first found in the Rammelsberg mine, Goslar, Harz, Germany. It was described in 1847. Goslarite belongs to the epsomite group which also includes epsomite () and ...

, fibroferrite, and morenosite and a description of the mineral from the site published in 1927.Landon, R.E. (1927
“ROEMERITE FROM CALIFORNIA”
''American Mineralogist'', 12(7): 279-283. The occurrence of bieberite at the Island Mountain deposit had earlier been recorded in 1923.Eakle, A.S. (1923
''“Minerals of California, Issue 91 of Bulletin (California State Mining Bureau)”''
California State Printing Office, Sacramento, California, pp. 275. Uranium mineralization in the Cameron Area of

Coconino County Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

was found to have bieberite as one of the cobalt mineral species in association with secondary

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

minerals formed through

.Austin, S.R. (1964
''“MINERALOGY OF THE CAMERON AREA: COCONINO COUNTY, ARIZONA, U.S. Atomic Energy Comm. RME 99”''
Tech. Inf. Serv., Oak Ridge, Tennessee, pp. 9.

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

*Palache, P.; Berman H.; Frondel, C. (1960). "''Dana's System of Mineralogy, Volume II: Halides, Nitrates, Borates, Carbonates, Sulfates, Phosphates, Arsenates, Tungstates, Molybdates, Etc. (Seventh Edition)"'' John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, pp. 505–507. Sulfate minerals Cobalt minerals Monoclinic minerals Minerals in space group 10