Zippeite Group from
Blue Lizard Mine, Red Canyon Mining District, San Juan County, Utah, USA
| Locality type: | Mine | |
| Classification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Species: | 'Zippeite Group' (not an IMA approved species) | |
| Comments: | Zippeite itself is the K-dominant member of this group, while natrozippeite, is the Na-dominant member, and both of these are listed as occurring at the Blue Lizard Mine, along with ammoniozippeite, the NH4 analog. Because all of these various zippeite-group species have similar yellowish external appearance and often occur as fine-grained or clumped coatings on sandstone that often do not allow for evaluation of crystal structure, determining which one is present in any given sample can be challenging, and usually requires X-ray powder diffraction. As such, unless a suitable analysis has been undertaken, or good crystal structure is evident, it is more correct to list specimens in this set of species as belonging to the âZippeite Groupâ since any other identification is basically a guess. It is worth noting that none of the photos of natrozippeite from the Blue Lizard mine posted on Mindat reference any form of analysis to verify the identification. Members of the zippeite group occur in areas where uraninite and sulfide minerals are actively oxidizing, and as noted by Burns et al. (2003) may occur as mixed assemblages of related species containing mono- and divalent cations. As such, their accurate characterization in any particular sample can be difficult. | |
| Confirmation | ||
| Validity: | Believed Valid | |
| Associated Minerals Based on Photo Data: | ||
| Chalcanthite | 1 | |
| Gypsum | 1 | |
| Data | ||
| Mineral Data: | Click here to view Zippeite Group data | |
| Locality Data: | Click here to view Blue Lizard Mine, Red Canyon Mining District, San Juan County, Utah, USA | |
| Data Identifiers | ||
| Mindat Occurrence Record ID: | 1513493 | |
| Long-form Identifier: | 1:3:1513493:0 | |
| GUID (UUID V4): | 0 | |
| References | ||
Blue Lizard Mine, Red Canyon Mining District, San Juan County, Utah, USA