Kenyaite is a mineral and is a peculiar

sodium silicate Sodium silicate is a generic name for chemical compounds with the formula or ·, such as sodium metasilicate (), sodium orthosilicate (), and sodium pyrosilicate (). The anions are often polymeric. These compounds are generally colorless tra ...

having a layered structure. It has a chemical formula of Na₂Si₂₂O₄₁(OH)₈ • 6H₂O, which means it is made up of variations of different materials including

sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

, and

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

. The chemical composition of kenyaite is subject to change: when the interlayer of water has different variations; it undergoes different physical conditions; by partial to full exchange of the sodium ions by protons when kenyaite comes into contact with water. This is typical for intracrystalline reactive materials.

Name

The name ''kenyaite'' derives from

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

as this is the location where it was first discovered.

Physical properties

Kenyaite is white in colour and can range from being transparent to translucent. It has a hardness of roughly 4 on

Mohs scale of mineral hardness The Mohs scale ( ) of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by the Ger ...

. Kenyaite has a white streak and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 3.18. This mineral has a

molecular mass The molecular mass () is the mass of a given molecule, often expressed in units of daltons (Da). Different molecules of the same compound may have different molecular masses because they contain different isotopes of an element. The derived quan ...

of 1,563.99 gm/mol. The mineral habits within kenyaite can be described as

concretionary A concretion is a hard and compact mass formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes a ...

and nodular. These nodules range in size and shape.

Reactions

Kenyaite has been shown to form from the leaching of

magadiite Magadiite is a hydrous sodium silicate mineral (NaSi7O13(OH)3·4(H2O)) which precipitates from alkali brines as an evaporite phase. It forms as soft (Mohs hardness of 2) white powdery monoclinic crystal masses. The mineral is unstable and decompose ...

, and also from evaporating saline brines in playa evaporite alkaline lake deposits. It can be transformed into

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

when kenyaite decomposes.

Distribution of Deposits

Kenyaite is found in different parts of the globe including, near

Trinity Lake Trinity Lake, previously called Clair Engle Lake, is a reservoir on the Trinity River formed by the Trinity Dam and located in Trinity County, California, United States. The dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake's capacity ...

, California, Kafra, Niger, and

Lake Magadi Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, lying in a catchment of faulted volcanic rocks, north of Tanzania's Lake Natron. During the dry season, it is 80% covered by soda and is known for its wading birds, including f ...

in Kenya.

References

{{Reflist Sodium minerals Phyllosilicates