File:Zippeite (or natrozippeite) on coffinite (Section 35 Mine, Ambrosia Lake District, New Mexico, USA) (31186815032).jpg

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Zippeite (or natrozippeite) on coffinite in sandstone from New Mexico, USA. (Robert Lauf collection)

A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 5100 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.

The sample shown above consists of two radioactive minerals - black-colored coffinite and yellow-colored zippeite (or natrozippeite).

Coffinite is a scarce uranium thorium hydroxysilicate mineral, (U,Th)(SiO4)1-x(OH)4x. Both uranium and thorium are radioactive. Coffinite is a primary uranium mineral and forms under non-oxidizing conditions - in such environments, the uranium is in the form of U+4 ions. This sample is a sandstone from New Mexico that is richly impregnated with intergranular, black-colored coffinite.

The tiny yellow-colored crystals are zippeite or natrozippeite. Both are uranyl sulfate minerals. Zippeite is K3(UO2)4(SO4)2O3(OH)·3H2O - hydrous potassium uranyl hydroxy-oxy-sulfate. Natrozippeite is the sodium equivalent, Na5(UO2)8(SO4)4O5(OH)3·12H2O. These two species are secondary uranium minerals. They form by alteration of uraninite (UO2) or other U- or V-bearing minerals. Uranium-bearing minerals are soluble in water and acids. Water percolating through uraniferous rocks will end up having dissolved U compounds. These dissolved compounds precipitate elsewhere as secondary U minerals.

Stratigraphy of host rock: Westwater Canyon Sandstone Member, Morrison Formation, Upper Jurassic

Locality: Section 35 Mine (a.k.a. Elizabeth Shaft), Ambrosia Lake Mining District (a.k.a. Ambrosia Lake area of the Grants Mining District), southeastern McKinley County, northwestern New Mexico, USA

Photo gallery of coffinite: <a href="http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=1106" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=1106</a>

Photo gallery of zippeite: <a href="http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=4420" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=4420</a>

Photo gallery of natrozippeite:

<a href="http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3694" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3694</a>
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Source Zippeite (or natrozippeite) on coffinite (Section 35 Mine, Ambrosia Lake District, New Mexico, USA)
Author James St. John

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This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/31186815032 (archive). It was reviewed on 6 December 2019 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

6 December 2019

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current04:00, 6 December 2019Thumbnail for version as of 04:00, 6 December 20191,564 × 1,512 (2.39 MB)Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

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