Shortite is a
sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...
-
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 ...
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 chemical formula Na
2Ca
2(CO
3)
3. It was discovered by
J. J. Fahey in
well cuttings from 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 ...
,
Sweetwater County,
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...
, US, and was named to honor
Maxwell N. Short (1889–1952), Professor of
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...
,
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...
.
Shortite is associated with commercial
trona
Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate di hydrate, 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 repla ...
ores, and some care must be taken when beneficiating crude trona to avoid contamination with shortite.
[McKetta, John J. (1995) "Slurry Systems, Instrumentation to Solid–Liquid Separation", ''Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design'', ]
See also
*
Aragonite
Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the three most common naturally occurring crystal forms of calcium carbonate, (the other forms being the minerals calcite and vaterite). It is formed by biological and physical processes, including pre ...
*
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 ...
*
Nahcolite
Nahcolite is a soft, colourless or white carbonate mineral with the composition of sodium bicarbonate ( Na H C O3) also called thermokalite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system.
Nahcolite was first described in 1928 for an occurrence in ...
*
Natron
Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate ( Na2CO3·10H2O, a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. ...
*
Sodium sesquicarbonate
Sodium sesquicarbonate (systematic name: trisodium hydrogendicarbonate) Na3H(CO3)2 is a double salt of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate (NaHCO3 · Na2CO3), and has a needle-like crystal structure. However, the term is also applied to an ...
*
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 produc ...
*
Trona
Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate di hydrate, 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 repla ...
*
Vaterite
Vaterite is a mineral, a polymorph of calcium carbonate ( Ca C O3). It was named after the German mineralogist Heinrich Vater. It is also known as mu- calcium carbonate (μ-CaCO3). Vaterite belongs to the hexagonal crystal system, whereas calcit ...
References
Mindata, with localitiesShortite data
Calcium minerals
Carbonate minerals
Sodium minerals
Orthorhombic minerals
Minerals in space group 38
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