GLAUBERITE

 

Glauberite is a scarce sodium calcium sulfate mineral (Na2Ca(SO4)2).  It forms in lacustrine or marine evaporitic settings.  It has a slightly waxy, nonmetallic luster, is often clear, has a white streak, is moderately soft, and slowly dissolves in water.  It is frequently encountered as a pseudomorph - other minerals have replaced the glauberite, but retained the original crystal form.

 

Glauberite (3.4 cm across) from the Verde Formation (Miocene-Pliocene) at the Camp Verde Salt Mine (aka Graham-Wingfield sulfate ground), a little southwest of the town of Camp Verde, central Arizona, USA.  The Verde Formation consists of source-proximal siliciclastics, lacustrine carbonates & evaporites deposited in the Verde Basin, a Basin & Range graben in central Arizona that had no drainage outlet during the Miocene & Pliocene.

 


 

Some info. from:

 

Thompson (1983) - Campe Verde evaporites.  Mineralogical Record 14(2): 85-90.

 


 

Photo gallery of glauberite

 


 

Home page