Trona Mineral Data

Trona Mineral Data +

[How the Club Works] [Memberships - Junior, Deluxe , and Platinum] [FAQ] [Past Minerals]
Join the Club - Junior, Deluxe and Platinum Memberships Available
High Quality Minerals Sent to Your Home or School Each Month
Mineral of the Month Club - An Inexpensive Way to Enjoy Minerals

General Trona Information

Chemical Formula:

Na3(CO3)(HCO3)·2(H2O)

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 226.03 gm

Sodium 30.51 % Na 41.13 % Na₂O

Hydrogen 2.23 % H 19.93 % H₂O

Carbon 10.63 % C 38.94 % CO₂

Oxygen 56.63 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

Na₃(HCO₃)(CO₃)·2(H₂O)

Environment:

Non-marine evaporite deposits.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1773

Locality:

Nile Vally near Memphis, Egypt. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

From Arabic origins meaning "natron."

Synonym:

ICSD 62200

PDF 29-1447

Urao

Trona Image

Images:

Trona Nahcolite

Comments: Massive, coarse-grained Trona from a drill core of the upper mixed-layer Saltbed. White areas are nahcolite alteration.
Location: Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA. Scale: 12 x 15 cm.
© Dave Barthelmy

Trona Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:b:c =5.7577:1:2.9504

Cell Dimensions:

a = 20.106, b = 3.492, c = 10.303, Z = 4; beta = 103.05° V = 704.69 Den(Calc)= 2.13

Crystal System:

Monoclinic - PrismaticH-M Symbol (2/m) Space Group: I2/a

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

By Intensity(I/I_o): 2.647(1), 3.071(0.8), 4.892(0.55),

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 0 0] [ 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

Choi C S , Mighell A D , Acta Crystallographica, Section B , 38 (1982) p.2874-2876, Neutron diffraction study of sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Note: H3 disordered model, this is the prefered model

View Additional jPOWD Structure files for Trona
[1]

Physical Properties of Trona

Cleavage:

[100] Perfect, [111] Indistinct, [001] Indistinct

Color:

Colorless, Gray white, Grayish, Yellowish, Yellowish white.

Density:

2.11 - 2.17, Average = 2.13

Diaphaniety:

Translucent

Fracture:

Sub Conchoidal - Fractures developed in brittle materials characterized by semi-curving surfaces.

Habit:

Columnar - Forms columns

Habit:

Fibrous - Crystals made up of fibers.

Habit:

Massive - Uniformly indistinguishable crystals forming large masses.

Hardness:

2.5 - Finger Nail

Luminescence:

None.

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Trona

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= 0.014 (Superior) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= 0.009 (Superior) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.226,KPDmeas= 0.2249,KC= 0.2281

Optical Data:

Biaxial (-), a=1.412, b=1.492, g=1.54, bire=0.1280, 2V(Calc)=70, 2V(Meas)=72. Dispersion relatively strong.

Calculated Properties of Trona

Electron Density:

r_electron=2.15 gm/cc
note: r_Trona=2.13 gm/cc.

Fermion Index

Fermion Index = 0.00144
Boson Index = 0.99856

Photoelectric:

PE_Trona= 0.67 barns/electron
U=PE_Trona x r_electron= 1.45 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)

Trona is Not Radioactive

Trona Classification

Dana Class:

13.1.4.1 (13)Acid Carbonates

(13.1)with miscellaneous formulae

(13.1.4)Dana Group

13.1.4.1 Trona Na3(CO3)(HCO3)·2(H2O) I2/a 2/m

Strunz Class:

V/D.02-30 V - Nitrates, Carbonates and Borates

V/D - Water-bearing carbonates without unfamiliar anions

V/D.02 - Thermonatrite - Chalconatronite series

V/D.02-10 Thermonatrite Na2CO3·(H2O) P ca2₁ mm2

V/D.02-20 Natron Na2CO3·10(H2O) Cc m

V/D.02-30 Trona Na3(CO3)(HCO3)·2(H2O) I2/a 2/m

V/D.02-40 Baylissite K2Mg(CO3)2·4(H2O) P 2₁/a 2/m

V/D.02-50 Pirssonite Na2Ca(CO3)2·2(H2O) F dd2 mm2

V/D.02-60 Gaylussite Na2Ca(CO3)2·5(H2O) I2/a 2/m

V/D.02-70 Chalconatronite Na2Cu(CO3)2·3(H2O) P 2₁/n 2/m

Other Trona Information

References:

NAME( Duda&Rejl90) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(Ford32)

See Also:

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

Search for Trona using:

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

Visit our Advertisers for Trona :

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

The GeoZone

Wrights Rock Shop

Translate Trona Mineral Data :

Ask about Trona 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 Trona Specimen Label here :

Trona

Na3(CO3)(HCO3)·2(H2O)
Dana No: 13.1.4.1 Strunz No: V/D.02-30
Locality:

Notes: