Boussingaultite is a rare ammonium magnesium hydrated
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 veins and as secondary mine ...
of the chemical formula: (NH
4)
2Mg(SO
4)
2 · 6 H
2O. The formula of boussingaultite is that of
Tutton's salts type. It was originally described from
geothermal fields in
Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
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,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, where it occurs together with its
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
analogue mohrite, but is more commonly found on burning coal dumps. The mineral possess
monoclinic
In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic ...
symmetry and forms clear, often rounded crystals.
[
The mineral is named after the French chemist ]Jean-Baptiste Boussingault
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné Boussingault (2 February 1801 – 11 May 1887) was a French chemist who made significant contributions to agricultural science, petroleum science and metallurgy.
Biography
Jean-Baptiste Boussingault – an agric ...
(1802–1887).
See also
* Mohr's salt
Ammonium iron(II) sulfate, or Mohr's salt, is the inorganic compound with the formula (NH4)2Fe(SO4)2(H2O)6. Containing two different cations, Fe2+ and NH4+, it is classified as a double salt of ferrous sulfate and ammonium sulfate. It is a commo ...
* Mohrite
References
Ammonium minerals
Magnesium minerals
Sulfate minerals
Hydrates
Monoclinic minerals
Minerals in space group 14
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