Mineralpedia Details for Paulscherrerite
Paulscherrerite
Named honor the contributions to mineralogy and nuclear physics that Swiss physicist Paul Scherrer had made. It is a rare mineral found at the No. 2 workings at Radium Ridge in the Mt. Painter area of Flinders Ranges in South Australia, Australia, which is its type locality, and in New Hampshire in the United States in the Ruggles and Palermo No. 1 mines. It is a canary yellow mineral that appears as tabular crystals. It is radioactive, but does not fluoresce under ultraviolet light. It has also been reported under the name “dehydrated schoepite” as a weathering product of uraninite and/or pitchblende.
Ref. Brugger, J., et al. and American Mineralogist February-March v. 96 no. 2-3 p. 229-240
- Formula
- UO2(OH)2
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Paulscherrerite from No. 2 workings, Mt. Painter, Flinders Range, South Australia, Australia
This specimen contains good Paulscherrerite with Metaschoepite in a 9x5 and a 5x4mm area. Paulscherrerite is a dehydration product of Metaschoepite. It is a uranyl hydroxide/hydrate and occurs as bright canary yellow microcrystalline powdery product with crystallites no larger than 500nm admixed with Metaschoepite. It was originally described by J. Brugger, Meisser, Etschmann, Ansermet, and Pring in 2011 in American Mineralogist 96, 229-240.
