Jarosite Mineral Data

[Newest Minerals] [Rare Minerals] [Cabinet Specimens] [About Us] [Image Gallery]
Dakota Matrix Minerals
Updated weekly, for the collector, educator, and researcher since 1996
Extensive Inventory of very Rare Minerals. Visa and Mastercard are Welcome

General Jarosite Information

Chemical Formula:

KFe+++3(SO4)2(OH)6

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 500.81 gm

Potassium 7.81 % K 9.40 % K₂O

Iron 33.45 % Fe 47.83 % Fe₂O₃

Hydrogen 1.21 % H 10.79 % H₂O

Sulfur 12.81 % S 31.97 % SO₃

Oxygen 44.73 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

KFe³⁺₃(SO₄)₂(OH)₆

Environment:

Secondary mineral, forming under conditions of weathering in arid climates.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1852

Locality:

Barranco Jaroso in southern Spain. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Named after its locality.

Name Pronunciation:

Jarosite

Synonym:

ICSD 12107

PDF 36-427

Utahite

Jarosite Image

Images:

Jarosite Alunogen

Comments: Colorless to white, tabular crystals alunogen on reddish jarosite.
Location: Ronneburg U deposit, Gera district, Thuringia, Germany. Scale: Picture size 5 mm.
© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Images:

Jarosite Fairbankite

Comments: Colorless to white crystals of fairbankite with orangish brown jarosite.
Location: Tombstone, Tombstone District, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA. Scale: Picture size 1.5 mm.
© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Images:

Jarosite

Comments: Deep brown lustrous crystals of Jarosite to 2 mm.
Location: Soureza, Attika, Greece. Scale: 2.8 x 1.6 cm.
© John Veevaert

Images:

Jarosite Winstanleyite

Comments: Small, yellow octahedral crystal of winstanleyite on brownish red jarosite.
Location: Tombstone, Tombstone District, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA. Scale: Picture size 0.9 mm.
© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Jarosite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:c = 1:2.36199

Cell Dimensions:

a = 7.21, c = 17.03, Z = 3; V = 766.68 Den(Calc)= 3.25

Crystal System:

Trigonal - PyramidalH-M Symbol (3) Space Group: R 3

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

By Intensity(I/I_o): 3.08(1), 3.11(0.6), 2.292(0.5),

Forms:

Mouse
Dbl Clk - Start-Stop Rotation
RMB - Cycle Display Modes
Drag1 - Manipulate Crystal
Drag2 - Resize
Keyboard
S - Stereo
I - Indicies
<space> - Start-Stop Rotation
F - Fit to Screen
M - Menu
Help on Above

Forms: ( 1 1 1) ( 1 1 2) ( 0 0 1)

Warning: this large pop-up is very compute intensive and may not work well with some computers.

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

Becker U , Gasharova B , Physics and Chemistry of Minerals , 28 (2001) p.545-556, AFM observations and simulations of jarosite growth at the molecular scale:, probing the basis for the incorporation of foreign ions into jarosite, as a storage mineral

Physical Properties of Jarosite

Cleavage:

{0001} Distinct

Color:

Brown, Yellow, Yellow brown, Light yellow.

Density:

2.9 - 3.3, Average = 3.09

Diaphaneity:

Translucent

Fracture:

Uneven - Flat surfaces (not cleavage) fractured in an uneven pattern.

Habit:

Crystalline - Fine - Occurs as well-formed fine sized crystals.

Habit:

Fibrous - Crystals made up of fibers.

Habit:

Massive - Uniformly indistinguishable crystals forming large masses.

Hardness:

2.5-3.5 - Finger Nail-Copper Penny

Luminescence:

Non-fluorescent.

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Streak:

yellow

Optical Properties of Jarosite

Dichroism (e):

colorless, very pale yellow, or pale greenish yellow.

Dichroism (w):

colorless, deep golden yellow, or deep golden yellow.

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= 0.059 (Good) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= 0.102 (Poor) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.2356,KPDmeas= 0.247,KC= 0.2624
Ncalc = 1.76 - 1.87

Optical Data:

Uniaxial (-), e=1.713-1.715, w=1.815-1.82, bire=0.1020-0.1050.

Calculated Properties of Jarosite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=3.06 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Jarosite =3.10 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.0082785281
Boson Index = 0.9917214719

Photoelectric:

PE_Jarosite= 11.47 barns/electron
U=PE_Jarosite x r_electron= 35.09 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 111.13 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Concentration of Jarosite per GRapi unit = 0.90 (%)

Estimated Radioactivity from Jarosite - barely detectable

Jarosite Classification

Dana Class:

30.02.05.01 (30)Anhydrous Sulfates Containing Hydroxyl or Halogen

(30.02)where (A B)2 XO4 Zq

(30.02.05)Alunite Group (Jarosite Subgroup)

30.02.05.01 Jarosite KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3 3

30.02.05.02 Natrojarosite NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

30.02.05.03 Hydroniumjarosite (H3O)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

30.02.05.04 Ammoniojarosite (NH4)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

30.02.05.05 Argentojarosite AgFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

30.02.05.06 Plumbojarosite PbFe6(SO4)4(OH)12 R 3m 3 2/m

30.02.05.07 Beaverite PbCu(Fe,Al)2(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

30.02.05.08 Dorallcharite (Tl,K)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

Strunz Class:

07.BC.10 07 - SULFATES (SELENATES, TELLURATES)

07.B - Sulfates (selenates, etc.) with Additional Anions, without H2O

07.BC -With medium-sized and large cations

07.BC.10 Alunite KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m, R 3m Trig

07.BC.10 Ammonioalunite (NH4)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Ammoniojarosite (NH4)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

07.BC.10 Beaverite PbCu(Fe,Al)2(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

07.BC.10 Argentojarosite AgFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

07.BC.10 Huangite Ca0.5Al3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Dorallcharite (Tl,K)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Jarosite KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3 3

07.BC.10 Hydroniumjarosite (H3O)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

07.BC.10 Minamiite (Na,Ca,K)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Natrojarosite NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

07.BC.10 Natroalunite NaAl3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Osarizawaite PbCuAl2(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3m

07.BC.10 Plumbojarosite PbFe6(SO4)4(OH)12 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Schlossmacherite (H3O,Ca)Al3(AsO4,SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

07.BC.10 Walthierite Ba0.5Al3(SO4)2(OH)6 R 3m 3 2/m

Other Jarosite Information

References:

NAME( Duda&Rejl90) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(Heinrich65)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Jarosite :
1 - Alkali-Nuts(English)
2 - Alkali-Nuts(Francais)
3 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
4 - Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery
5 - Athena
6 - CalTech Mineral Spectroscopy
7 - EUROmin Project
8 - Ecole des Mines de Paris
9 - Google Images
10 - Google Scholar
11 - Handbook of Mineralogy (MinSocAm)
12 - Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA)
13 - MinDAT
14 - MinMax(Deutsch)
15 - MinMax(English)
16 - Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom
17 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
18 - QUT Mineral Atlas
19 - Ruff.Info
20 - WWW-MINCRYST

Search for Jarosite using:

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

Visit our Advertisers for Jarosite :

AA Mineral Specimens

B & L Fine Minerals

Crystalarium.com

Dan Weinrich Fine Minerals

Dan Weinrich Auctions

Dakota Matrix

Diamond Dan Publications

John Betts Fine Minerals

Mason's Minerals

Mineral News

Mineral of the Month Club

Wrights Rock Shop

Translate Jarosite Mineral Data :

Ask about Jarosite 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 Jarosite Specimen Label here :

Jarosite

KFe+++3(SO4)2(OH)6
Dana No: 30.02.05.01 Strunz No: 07.BC.10
Locality:

Notes: