Scawtite is a hydrous
calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar t ...
silicate mineral
Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust.
In mineralogy, silica (silicon dioxide, ) is usually consi ...
with
carbonate
A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonat ...
, formula: Ca
7(Si
3O
9)
2CO
3·2H
2O. It crystallizes in the
monoclinic crystal system
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 sys ...
as thin plates or flat prisms.
[
Scawtite was first described in 1929 for an occurrence at ]Scawt Hill
Scawt Hill is a volcanic plug in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in the borough of Larne, 5 km from the village of Ballygally.
It gets its name from the Ulster Scots "" meaning scaly, scabby or rugged. Alternatively, '' 'scawt' '' mean ...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
.[
Scawtite occurs as in ]skarn
Skarns or tactites are hard, coarse-grained metamorphic rocks that form by a process called metasomatism. Skarns tend to be rich in calcium-magnesium-iron-manganese-aluminium silicate minerals, which are also referred to as calc-silicate minerals ...
s and hydrothermal
Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...
veins
Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated ...
in limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
. Associated minerals include melilite
Melilite refers to a mineral of the melilite group. Minerals of the group are solid solutions of several endmembers, the most important of which are gehlenite and åkermanite. A generalized formula for common melilite is ( Ca, Na)2( Al, Mg, ...
, spurrite, tobermorite
Tobermorite is a calcium silicate hydrate mineral with chemical formula:
Ca5Si6O16(OH)2·4H2O or
Ca5Si6(O,OH)18·5H2O.
Two structural varieties are distinguished: tobermorite-11 Å and tobermorite-14 Å.
Tobermorite occurs in hydrated cemen ...
, thomsonite
Thomsonite is the name of a series of tecto-silicate minerals of the zeolite group. Prior to 1997, thomsonite was recognized as a mineral species, but a reclassification in 1997 by the International Mineralogical Association changed it to a seri ...
, larnite
Larnite is a calcium silicate mineral with formula: Ca2SiO4. It is the calcium member of the olivine group of minerals.
It was first described from an occurrence at Scawt Hill, Larne, Northern Ireland in 1929 by Cecil Edgar Tilley and named for ...
, grossular
Grossular is a calcium-aluminium species of the garnet group of minerals. It has the chemical formula of Ca3Al2(SiO4)3 but the calcium may, in part, be replaced by ferrous iron and the aluminium by ferric iron. The name grossular is derived from t ...
, bultfonteinite
Bultfonteinite, originally dutoitspanite, is a pink to colorless mineral with chemical formula Ca2SiO2(OH,F)4. It was discovered in 1903 or 1904 in the Bultfontein mine in South Africa, for which the mineral is named, and described in 1932.
Descri ...
, calcite
Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scra ...
, analcime
Analcime (; ) or analcite is a white, gray, or colorless tectosilicate mineral. Analcime consists of hydrated sodium aluminium silicate in cubic crystalline form. Its chemical formula is Na Al Si2 O6· H2O. Minor amounts of potassium and calc ...
, foshagite and hillebrandite.[
]
References
{{silicate-mineral-stub
Silicate minerals
Monoclinic minerals
Minerals in space group 12