Nahcolite is a soft, colourless or white
carbonate mineral
Carbonate minerals are those minerals containing the carbonate ion, .
Carbonate divisions Anhydrous carbonates
*Calcite group: trigonal
** Calcite CaCO3
** Gaspéite (Ni,Mg,Fe2+)CO3
** Magnesite MgCO3
** Otavite CdCO3
**Rhodochrosite MnCO3
** ...
with the composition of
sodium bicarbonate (
Na H C O3) also called thermokalite. It crystallizes in the
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 s ...
system.
[
Nahcolite was first described in 1928 for an occurrence in a lava tunnel at ]Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...
, 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 ...
.[Nahcolite on Mindat.org]
/ref> Its name refers to the elements which compose it: ''Na'', ''H'', ''C'', and ''O''.[Richard V. Gaines, H. Catherine W. Skinner, Eugene E. Foord, Brian Mason, and Abraham Rosenzweig: Dana's new mineralogy, John Wiley & Sons, 1997] It occurs as a hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...
and saline lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salt (chemistry), salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of ...
precipitate or efflorescence
In chemistry, efflorescence (which means "to flower out" in French) is the migration of a salt to the surface of a porous material, where it forms a coating. The essential process involves the dissolving of an internally held salt in water, or ...
; in differentiated alkalic massif
In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
s; in fluid inclusions image:Inclumed.gif, 250px, Trapped in a time capsule the same size as the diameter of a human hair, the ore-forming liquid in this inclusion was so hot and contained so much dissolved solids that when it cooled, crystals of halite, sylvite, gypsum, ...
as a daughter mineral phase and in evaporite
An evaporite () is a water- soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocean ...
deposits.[Nahcolite data on Webmineral]
/ref>
It occurs in association with trona
Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3•2NaHCO3•3H2O) is a non-marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced ...
, thermonatrite
Thermonatrite is a naturally occurring evaporite mineral form of sodium carbonate, Na2CO3·H2O.
It was first described in 1845. Its name is from the Greek θερμός ''thermos'', "heat", plus ''natron'', because it may be a dehydration product ...
, thenardite, halite
Halite (), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, p ...
, gaylussite, burkeite, northupite
Northupite is an uncommon evaporite mineral, with the chemical formula Na3Mg(CO3)2Cl. It occurs as colourless to dark grey or brown octahedral crystals and as globular masses. In synthetic material it forms a series with tychite (Na6Mg2(CO3)4SO4 ...
and borax
Borax is a salt ( ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular for ...
.[Nahcolite in the Handbook of Mineralogy]
/ref> It has been reported in a Roman conduit at Stufe de Nerone, Campi Flegrei, near Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
; in the U. S. from Searles Lake
Searles Lake is an endorheic dry lake in the Searles Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, California. The lake in the past was also called Slate Range Lake and Borax Lake.
The mining community of Trona is on i ...
, San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
; in the Green River Formation
The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The sediments are deposited in very fine ...
, Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
and Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
; in the Tincalayu deposit, Salar del Hombre Muerto,
Salta Province, Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
; on Mt. Alluaiv, Lovozero Massif
The Lovozero Massif (russian: Ловозёрские тундры, ''Lovozyorskiye Tundry'', named after the lake in that area – Lake Lovozero; the region is also known as , ''Lovozyorye'') is a mountain range located in the center of the Kola ...
and Khibiny Massif, Kola Peninsula
sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк
, image_name= Kola peninsula.png
, image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast
, image_size= 300px
, image_alt=
, map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
; and around Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent.
With a summ ...
, Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. I ...
, Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
.[
]
References
Carbonate minerals
Sodium minerals
Monoclinic minerals
Minerals in space group 14
Industrial minerals
{{carbonate-mineral-stub