Mineralpedia Details for Meurigite-Na
Meurigite-Na
Named for Professor John Meurig Thomas, who was a crystal chemist at the University of Cambridge in England. The name Meurigite originally referred to just the potassium-dominant species, however, later meurigites were discovered to be sodium-dominant. The type locality of the minerals is at the Silver Coin mine in Nevada, USA. It occurs there as cream colored radial sprays of flattened fibers or laths. It forms late in a paragenetic sequence that includes quartz, barite, apatite-CaF, goethite, rockbridgeite, cacoxenite, alunite, wardite, turquoise, chalcosiderite, leucophosphite, lipscombite, zinclipscombite, kidwellite, strengite, variscite, crandallite, perhamite, and jarosite. Additional localities include in Australia, Brazil, and the Czech Republic.
Ref. Kampf, R. et al. and American Mineralogist May-June v. 94 no. 5-6 p. 720-727
- Formula
- [Na(H2O)2.5][Fe3+8(PO4)6(OH)7]·4H2O
- Crystal System
- Monoclinic
- Crystal Habit
- Radial, Acicular
- Cleavage
- Distinct, None, None
- Luster
- Silky
- Color
- cream, pale yellow
- Streak
- white
- Class
- Monoclinic - Prismatic
- Fracture
- Splintery
- Hardness
- 3
- WebMineral
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Meurigite-Na from Tom's Phosphate quarry, Kapunda, South Australia, Australia
Yellowish green spherules composed of compact fibrius micro crystals to about 0.3mm as singles and bunches.
Meurigite-Na from Silver Coin mine, Humboldt Co., Nevada, United States
Light yellow fibrous hemispheres to 0.8mm.
Meurigite-Na from Těškov quarry, SE of Prague, Bohemia, Czech Republic
The mineral was discovered at the Silver Coin mine, but this locality is the best. On this specimen are scattered fuzzy balls to 0.75mm. The balls are composed of fibrous crystals which can be seen on some cross-sections. Excellent rich specimen. And no these aren't tiny peaches.
