Gaylussite

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Gaylussite
efflorescent
References[2][3][4]

Gaylussite is a

monoclinic prismatic crystals. It is an unstable mineral which dehydrates in dry air and decomposes in water.[2]

Discovery and occurrence

It is formed as an evaporite from alkali lacustrine waters. It also occurs rarely as veinlets in alkalic igneous rocks.[2] It was first described in 1826 for an occurrence in Lagunillas, Mérida, Venezuela. It was named for French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850).[3]

The mineral has been recently (2014) reported from drill core in

meteor impact during the Pleistocene Epoch[5] and it is one of only four known hyper-velocity impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth.[6][7]

References

  1. .
  2. ^ a b c Handbook of Mineralogy
  3. ^ a b Mindat
  4. ^ Webmineral
  5. ^ "Geology". Government of Maharashtra. Gazetteers Department. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  6. ^ Deshpande, Rashmi (3 December 2014). "The Meteor Mystery Behind Lonar Lake". National Geographic Traveller Idia. National Geographic Group. Archived from the original on 6 January 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  7. ^ Anoop et al., Palaeoenvironmental implications of evaporative gaylussite crystals from Lonar Lake, central India, Journal of Quaternary Science, V., Issue 4, pp. 349–359, May 2013