Abhurite

• IMA 1983-061
• Zinnoxihydroxychlorid

Abhurit is a very rarely occurring mineral from the mineral class of " halides ". It crystallizes in the trigonal crystal system with the chemical composition Sn21O6 (OH ) 14Cl16, therefore corresponds to a chemical point of a basic tin chloride.

Abhurit usually develops dünntafelige, hexagonal crystals, but is also found in the form of crypto-crystalline crusts. The largest ever found, colorless and transparent crystals had the form of small, hexagonal tablets of about two millimeters in size.

Etymology and history

Was first discovered in 1983 in a Abhurit about a hundred -year-old shipwreck in the bay " Sharm Abhur " about 30 km north of Jeddah ( Jiddah English ) on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. There, the mineral formed by the corrosion of the lower tin ingots.

Analyzed and described Abhurit by John J. Matzko, Howard T. Evans, Jr., Mary E. Mrose Philip Aruscavage who submitted the mineral after its type locality named and their results to test the mineral status at the International Mineralogical Association (IMA ) ( Registration no. IMA 1983-061 ). This recognized the mineral status and the selected name in the same year, but this no longer meets the applicable since 1998, rules of the IMA, which material anthropogenic ( caused by humans, caused, created or influenced substances ), such as corroded human artifacts not as mineral is accepted ..

Reference sample is located in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto in Canada and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC in the United States ( Register-Nr. 162,403 ).

Classification

Already in the now outdated but still in use 8th edition of the mineral classification by Strunz was one of Abhurit the mineral class of " halides " and then to the Department of " oxyhalides " where he was the only member of the unnamed group III/D.05.

The valid since 2001 and used by the IMA 9th edition of the Strunz'schen Mineral classification assigns the Abhurit other hand, in the newly defined division of " oxyhalides, hydroxyhalides and related double halides " one. This is also further divided according to the conditions prevailing in the interconnect metals, so that the mineral is found according to its composition in the subsection "With Cu, etc., without Pb", where it is the only member of the unnamed group 3.DA.30 forms.

The mainly common in English-speaking classification of minerals according to Dana assigns the Abhurit into the class of " halides " and there in the department of " oxyhalides and hydroxyhalides ". Here he can be found as the only member of the unnamed group 10:05:09 within the subdivision " oxyhalides and hydroxyhalides with the formula Am ( O, OH ) p × q ".

Education and Locations

Abhurit forms as a bubble-like efflorescence on the surface of tin under the influence of sea water. Accompanying minerals include Romarchit, Hydroromarchit, Kutnohorit and aragonite.

As a very rare mineral formation Abhurit previously could (as of 2011) only detected in a few samples to less than 10 localities. Apart from its type locality Sharm Abhur in Saudi Arabia, these are still an unspecified certain locality at Port Royal in Jamaica and shipwrecks at Hidra / Flekkefjord in Norway, St Ives ( England) and Anglesey (Wales ) in the United Kingdom and San Jose ( Monroe County ) and Beaufort in the United States.

Crystal structure

Abhurit trigonal crystallized in the space group R32 ( Raumgruppen-Nr. 155) with the lattice parameters a = 10.02 Å and c = 44.01 Å and 3 formula units per unit cell.