Abernathyite

{{Infobox mineral | name = Abernathyite | category = Arsenate minerals | image = Abernathyite, Heinrichite-497484.jpg | imagesize = 260px | caption = Pale yellow abernathyite crystals and green heinrichite crystals | formula = K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·3H₂O<ref>{{cite web|title=The New IMA List of Minerals – A Work in Progress – Update: November 2012|url=http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/IMA_Master_List_(2012-11).pdf|work=Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification|publisher=International Mineralogical Association|access-date=January 8, 2013|archive-date=September 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060219/http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/IMA_Master_List_(2012-11).pdf}}</ref> |IMAsymbol=Abn<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Warr|first=L.N.|date=2021|title=IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols|journal=Mineralogical Magazine|volume=85|issue=3|pages=291–320|doi=10.1180/mgm.2021.43|bibcode=2021MinM...85..291W|s2cid=235729616|doi-access=free}}</ref> | molweight = | strunz = 8.EB.15 | dana = 40.2a.9.1 | system = Tetragonal | class = Ditetragonal dipyramidal (4/mmm) <br/>H-M symbol: (4/m 2/m 2/m) | symmetry = ''P4/ncc''<ref name=mindat/><ref name=handbook/> | unit cell = a = 7.176, c = 18.126&nbsp;[Å] <br/>Z&nbsp;=&nbsp;4 | color = Yellow | habit = | twinning = | cleavage = Perfect on {001} | fracture = | tenacity = Brittle | mohs = 2.5–3 | luster = Sub-Vitreous, resinous, waxy, greasy | polish = | refractive = n_ω = 1.597 – 1.608<br />n_ε = 1.570 | opticalprop = Uniaxial (−) | birefringence = δ = 0.027 – 0.038 | 2V = 5° (measured) | dispersion = | pleochroism = Weak | fluorescence= Yellow-green in longwave and shortwave UV<ref name=handbook/> | absorption = | streak = Pale yellow | gravity = 3.32 (measured) 3.572 (calculated) | density = | melt = | fusibility = | diagnostic = | solubility = | diaphaneity = Transparent | other = 25px Radioactive | references =<ref name=mindat>{{cite web|title=Abernathyite|url=http://www.mindat.org/min-3.html|publisher=Mindat|access-date=January 8, 2013}}</ref> }} '''Abernathyite''' is a mineral with formula K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·3H₂O. The mineral is named after Jesse Evrett Abernathy (1913–1963) who first noted it in 1953 in the U.S. State of Utah. It was described as a new mineral species in 1956. Abernathyite is yellow and occurs as small crystals.

==Description== Abernathyite is a transparent, yellow mineral that occurs as tabular crystals up to {{convert|3|mm|in|sp=us}}. The mineral has a single perfect cleavage on {001}. Abernathyite fluoresces yellow-green in longwave and shortwave ultraviolet.<ref name=handbook/> Because of its uranium content, the mineral is radioactive.<ref name=webmin>{{cite web|title=Abernathyite|url=http://webmineral.com/data/Abernathyite.shtml|publisher=Webmineral|access-date=January 8, 2013}}</ref>

==Occurrence and formation== Abernathyite forms as a coating on fractures of asphaltic sandstone containing uranium deposits. The mineral occurs in association with heinrichite, scorodite, and zeunerite.<ref name=handbook/> Abernathyite is known from France, Germany, Poland, South Africa, and the United States.<ref name=mindat/>

==Structure and formula== When first described in 1956, the formula was identified as K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·4H₂O. However, only about 25 milligrams of the mineral was available for analysis, so a number of precautions were taken by running duplicate analyses and using artificial mixtures.{{sfn|Thompson|Ingram|Gross|1956|pp=86–87}} In 1964, further study of the mineral identified inconsistencies between electron-density subtraction maps and the chemical evidence that abernathyite contains potassium. This led the authors to revise the formula as K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·3H₂O.{{sfn|Ross|Evans|1964|pp=1587–1588}}

Abernathyite crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system.<ref name=mindat/>

==History== Jess Abernathy was the operator of the Fuemrol mine in Emery County, Utah. In the summer of 1953, he noted yellow crystals coating sandstone at the mine which he thought might be mineralogically significant. The specimens were sent to Grand Junction, Colorado, for study by United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) mineralogist E. B. Gross. He could not match the mineral's optical properties with any known species, so he sent the specimens to Washington D.C. where adequate facilities were available for further investigation. Mineralogists A. D. Weeks and M. E. Thompson of the United States Geological Survey studied the mineral on behalf of the AEC's Raw Materials Division.{{sfn|Thompson|Ingram|Gross|1956|p=82}}

Abernathyite was described in the journal ''American Mineralogist'' in 1956. The mineral was named ''abernathyite'' in honor of discoverer Jess Abernathy.{{sfn|Thompson|Ingram|Gross|1956|p=82}} Type specimens are held in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.<ref name=handbook>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/abernathyite.pdf |title=Abernathyite |encyclopedia=Handbook of Mineralogy |editor1-first=John W. |editor1-last=Anthony|editor2-first=Richard A. |editor2-last=Bideaux|editor3-first=Kenneth W. |editor3-last=Bladh|editor4-first= Monte C. |editor4-last=Nichols |publisher=Mineralogical Society of America|location=Chantilly, VA}}</ref>

==See also== * List of minerals

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

;Bibliography *{{cite journal|last1=Ross|first1=Malcolm|last2=Evans|first2=Howard T. Jr.|title=Studies of the torbernite minerals (I): The crystal structure of abernathyite and the structurally related compounds NH₄(UO₂AsO₄)·3H₂O and K(H₃O)(UO₂AsO₄)₂·6H₂O|journal=American Mineralogist|date=November–December 1964|volume=49|issue=11–12|pages=1578–1602|url=http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM49/AM49_1578.pdf}} *{{cite journal|last1=Thompson|first1=M. E.|last2=Ingram|first2=Blanche |last3=Gross|first3=E. B.|title=Abernathyite, a new uranium mineral of the metatorbernite group|journal=American Mineralogist|date=January–February 1956|volume=41|issue=1–2|pages=82–90|url=http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM41/AM41_82.pdf}}

==External links== {{Wiktionary}} *[http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3 Image of abernathyite] from mindat.org

Category:Uranium(VI) minerals Category:Potassium minerals Category:Arsenate minerals Category:Tetragonal minerals Category:Minerals in space group 130 Category:Minerals described in 1956