Antarcticite Mineral Data

Antarcticite Mineral Data +

General Antarcticite Information

Chemical Formula:

CaCl2·6(H2O)

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 219.08 gm

Calcium 18.29 % Ca 25.60 % CaO

Hydrogen 5.52 % H 49.34 % H₂O

Chlorine 32.37 % Cl 32.37 % Cl

- % Cl -7.30 % -O=Cl₂

Oxygen 43.82 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

CaCl₂·6(H₂O)

Environment:

Calcium chloride rich brines at saturation in cool weather..

IMA Status:

Approved IMA 1965

Locality:

Saline lakes located in the dry valleys of Antarctica. Bristol Lake, Mojave Co., California. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Named after the continent of Antarctica.

Synonym:

ICSD 59142

PDF 26-1053

Search for Antarcticite Images

Images:

Image not yet available on Webmineral.com

Try searching images.google.com or Mindat Picture Gallary for mineral pictures. Caution: The images retrieved may not be appropriate.

Antarcticite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:c = 1:0.50063

Cell Dimensions:

a = 7.89, c = 3.95, Z = 1; V = 212.95 Den(Calc)= 1.71

Crystal System:

Trigonal - TrapezohedralH-M Symbol (3 2) Space Group: P 3₂1

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 2.16(1), 3.93(0.75), 2.78(0.63),

Crystal Structure:

Mouse
drag1 - LMB Manipulate Structure
drag2 - RMB Resize/Rotate
Keyboard
S - Stereo Pair on/off
H - Help Screen
I - Data Info
A - Atoms On/Off
P - Polyhedra On/Off
B - Bonds On/Off
Help on Above

Agron P A , Busing W R , Acta Crystallographica, Section C , 42 (1986) p.141-143, Calcium and strontium dichloride hexahydrates by neutron diffraction

Physical Properties of Antarcticite

Cleavage:

[0001] Perfect, [1010] Very Good

Color:

Colorless.

Density:

1.705 - 1.725, Average = 1.71

Diaphaniety:

Transparent

Fracture:

Brittle - Generally displayed by glasses and most non-metallic minerals.

Habit:

Acicular - Occurs as needle-like crystals.

Habit:

Crystalline - Coarse - Occurs as well-formed coarse sized crystals.

Habit:

Deliquescent - Crystals absorb water from the air and melt or otherwise deteriorate.

Hardness:

2-3 - Gypsum-Calcite

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Antarcticite

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= 0.059 (Fair) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= 0.056 (Good) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.3056,KPDmeas= 0.3047,KC= 0.3238

Optical Data:

Uniaxial (-), e=1.495, w=1.55, bire=0.0550.

Calculated Properties of Antarcticite

Electron Density:

r_electron=1.78 gm/cc
note: r_Antarcticite=1.71 gm/cc.

Fermion Index

Fermion Index = 0.00046
Boson Index = 0.99954

Photoelectric:

PE_Antarcticite= 4.31 barns/electron
U=PE_Antarcticite x r_electron= 7.67 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)

Antarcticite is Not Radioactive

Antarcticite Classification

Dana Class:

9.2.6.1 (9)Anhydrous and Hydrated Halides

(9.2)where A (X)2

(9.2.6)Dana Group

9.2.6.1 Antarcticite CaCl2·6(H2O) P 3₂1 3 2

Strunz Class:

III/A.12-80 III - Halogenides

III/A - Simple Halogenides, with water Metal : Halogen = 1 : 1 to 1 : 3

III/A.12 - Hydrohalite - Antarcticite series

III/A.12-10 Hydrohalite NaCl·2(H2O) P 2₁/c 2/m

III/A.12-20 Eriochalcite CuCl2·2(H2O) Pbmn 2/m 2/m 2/m

III/A.12-30 Bischofite MgCl2·6(H2O) C 2/m 2/m

III/A.12-40 Nickelbischofite NiCl2·6(H2O) C 2/m 2/m

III/A.12-50 Rokuhnite FeCl2·(H2O) C 2/m 2/m

III/A.12-70 Sinjarite CaCl2·2(H2O) Unk. Tetra

III/A.12-80 Antarcticite CaCl2·6(H2O) P 3₂1 3 2

Other Antarcticite Information

References:

NAME( Dana8) PHYS. PROP.(Dana8) OPTIC PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Antarcticite :
1 -Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database 2 -Athena 3 - EUROmin Project 4 -Google Images 5 -Google Scholar 6 -Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA) 7 -MinDAT 8 -MinMax(Deutsch) 9 -MinMax(English) 10 -Mineralienatlas (Deutsch) 11 -QUT Mineral Atlas 12 - WWW-MINCRYST 13 -École des Mines de Paris

Search for Antarcticite using:

[ALTAVISTA] [AOL] [All-The-Web] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [MAMMA] [MSN.COM] [Netscape] [Scirus] [Teoma] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Antarcticite :

AA Mineral Specimens

B & L Fine Minerals

Dan Weinrich Fine Minerals

Dan Weinrich Auctions

John Betts Fine Minerals

Mason's Minerals

Mineral News

Mineral of the Month Club

MineralsWeb Fine Minerals

Rockshop.cz

T G Fine Minerals

Wrights Rock Shop

Translate Antarcticite Mineral Data :

Ask about Antarcticite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
Mindat.org's Discussion Groups
Original Rockhounds Discussion Group
Rockhounds Discussion Group on Yahoo Groups
Mineral Discussion Forum from Fabre Minerals - also available in Español

Print or Cut-and-Paste your Antarcticite Specimen Label here :

Antarcticite

CaCl2·6(H2O)
Dana No: 9.2.6.1 Strunz No: III/A.12-80
Locality:

Notes: