Wairakite

{{Short description|Zeolite mineral}} {{Infobox mineral | name = Wairakite | boxwidth = | boxbgcolor = | image = Wairakite.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Wairakite from Azerbaijan | category = Tectosilicate minerals | group = Zeolite group | formula = Ca₈(Al₁₆Si₃₂O₉₆)•16H₂O | IMAsymbol = Wrk<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 = 9.GB.05 | system = Monoclinic | class = Prismatic (2/m) <br/><small>(same H-M symbol)</small> | symmetry = ''I2/a'' | unit cell = a = 13.69&nbsp;Å, b = 13.64&nbsp;Å <br/>c = 13.56&nbsp;Å; β = 90.51°; Z&nbsp;=&nbsp;8 | color = colorless to white | colour = | habit = | twinning = | cleavage = | fracture = | tenacity = | mohs = | luster = vitreous, dull | streak = white | diaphaneity = transparent, translucent | gravity = | density = | polish = | opticalprop = | refractive = | birefringence = | pleochroism = | 2V = | dispersion = | extinction = | length fast/slow = | fluorescence = | absorption = | melt = | fusibility = | diagnostic = | solubility = | impurities = | alteration = | other = | prop1 = | prop1text = | references = <ref name=Mindat>[http://www.mindat.org/min-4230.html Mindat]</ref><ref>[https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/MineralData?mineral=Wairakite Mineralienatlas]</ref> }} '''Wairakite''' is a zeolite mineral with an analcime structure but containing a calcium ion. The chemical composition is Ca₈(Al₁₆Si₃₂O₉₆)•16H₂O. It is named for the location of its discovery in Wairakei, North Island, New Zealand, by Czechoslovak mineralogist Alfred Steiner in 1955.<ref name=szostak1992>{{citation | first=Rosemarie | last=Szostak | year=1992 | title=Handbook of molecular sieves | page=482 | publisher=Springer | isbn=0-442-31899-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSXDrpyqQc8C&pg=PA482 }}</ref><ref name=mm30_691>{{citation | last=Steiner | first=Alfred | year=1955 | title=Wairakite, the calcium analogue of analcime, a new zeolite mineral | journal= Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society| volume=30 | issue=230 | pages=691–698 | doi=10.1180/minmag.1955.030.230.02 | bibcode=1955MinM...30..691S | url=http://rruff.info/uploads/MM30_691.pdf | accessdate=2011-09-08}}</ref> The first finds were in hydrothermally altered rhyolitic tuffs, ignimbrites and volcaniclastic rocks.<ref name=mm30_691/> The mineral has since been found in metamorphic rocks and in geothermal areas. It was most likely first successfully synthesized in a laboratory in 1970.<ref name=cmp27_4_259>{{citation|authorlink1=Juhn G. Liou | first=J. G. | last=Liou | title=Synthesis and stability relations of wairakite, CaAl2 Si4 O12·2H2O | journal=Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology | year=1970 | volume=27 | issue=4 | pages=259–282 | doi=10.1007/BF00389814 |bibcode = 1970CoMP...27..259L | s2cid=128557961}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Zeolite group Category:Monoclinic minerals Category:Minerals in space group 15

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