Tychite Mineral Data

General Tychite Information

Chemical Formula:

Na6Mg2(CO3)4(SO4)

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 522.65 gm

Sodium 26.39 % Na 35.58 % Na₂O

Magnesium 9.30 % Mg 15.42 % MgO

Carbon 9.19 % C 33.68 % CO₂

Sulfur 6.14 % S 15.32 % SO₃

Oxygen 48.98 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

Na₆Mg₂(CO₃)₄(SO₄)

Environment:

Continental evaporite deposits.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1905

Locality:

Borax Lake, San Bernardino Co., California. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Named from the Greek for "luck or chance" because out of 5,000 northupite crystals, the last 10 were tychite.

Name Pronunciation:

Tychite

Synonym:

ICSD 27792

PDF 22-479

Tychite Image

Images:

Tychite

Comments: Nearly transparent tychite crystal.
Location: Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA. Scale: See Photo.
© Jeff Weissman / Photographic Guide to Mineral Species

Tychite Crystallography

Cell Dimensions:

a = 13.898, Z = 8; V = 2,684.46 Den(Calc)= 2.59

Crystal System:

Isometric - DiploidalH-M Symbol (2/m 3) Space Group: F d3

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

By Intensity(I/I_o): 2.674(1), 4.187(0.76), 2.459(0.4),

Crystal Structure:

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Schmidt G R , Reynard J , Yang H , Downs R T , Acta Crystallographica, Section E , 62 (2006) p.i207-i209, Tychite, Na6Mg2(SO4)(CO3)4: Structure analysis and Raman spectroscopic data, Locality: Searles Lake, Trona, San Bernardino County, California, USA

View Additional jPOWD Structure files for Tychite
[1] [2]

Physical Properties of Tychite

Cleavage:

None

Color:

Colorless, White.

Density:

2.5

Diaphaneity:

Transparent

Fracture:

Brittle - Conchoidal - Very brittle fracture producing small, conchoidal fragments.

Habit:

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

Hardness:

3.5 - Copper Penny

Luminescence:

Fluorescent, Long UV=cream-white.

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Magnetism:

Nonmagnetic

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Tychite

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= -0.038 (Excellent) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= -0.001 (Superior) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.1969,KPDmeas= 0.204,KC= 0.1966
Ncalc = 1.49 - 1.51

Optical Data:

Isotropic, n=1.51.

Calculated Properties of Tychite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=2.56 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Tychite =2.59 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.01
Boson Index = 0.99

Photoelectric:

PE_Tychite= 1.11 barns/electron
U=PE_Tychite x rElectron Density= 2.83 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Tychite is Not Radioactive

Tychite Classification

Dana Class:

17.01.01.01 (17)Compound Carbonates

(17.01)with miscellaneous formulae

(17.01.01)Tychite Group

17.01.01.01 Tychite Na6Mg2(CO3)4(SO4) F d3 2/m 3

17.01.01.02 Ferrotychite Na6Fe2(SO4)(CO3)4 F d3 2/m 3

17.01.01.03 Manganotychite Na6(Mn,Fe,Mg)2(SO4)(CO3)4 F d3 2/m 3

Strunz Class:

05.BF.05 05 - CARBONATES (NITRATES)

05.B - Carbonates with additional anions, without H2O

05.BF -With (Cl), SO4, PO4, TeO3

05.BF.05 Ferrotychite Na6Fe2(SO4)(CO3)4 F d3 2/m 3

05.BF.05 Manganotychite Na6(Mn,Fe,Mg)2(SO4)(CO3)4 F d3 2/m 3

05.BF.05 Northupite Na3Mg(CO3)2Cl F d3 2/m 3

05.BF.05 Tychite Na6Mg2(CO3)4(SO4) F d3 2/m 3

Other Tychite Information

References:

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

See Also:

Links to other databases for Tychite :
1 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
2 - Athena
3 - EUROmin Project
4 - Ecole des Mines de Paris
5 - GeoScienceWorld
6 - Google Images
7 - Google Scholar
8 - Handbook of Mineralogy (MinSocAm)
9 - Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA)
10 - MinDAT
11 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
12 - Online Mineral Museum
13 - QUT Mineral Atlas
14 - Ruff.Info
15 - WWW-MINCRYST

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Ask about Tychite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
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Print or Cut-and-Paste your Tychite Specimen Label here :

Tychite

Na6Mg2(CO3)4(SO4)
Dana No: 17.01.01.01 Strunz No: 05.BF.05
Locality:

Notes: