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Sideronatrite and metasideronatrite efflorescence formed in a coastal sea-spray environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

L. A. J. Garvie*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA

Abstract

Sideronatrite [Na2Fe(SO4)2(OH)·3H2O] occurs as yellow botryoidal encrustations on low cliffs of weathered pyrite-bearing mudstones at Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, England. Extensive areas of the cliffs, up to ∼100 m2, are coated with sideronatrite and its low solubility in cold water secures its longevity. Dry samples of sideronatrite convert readily to metasideronatrite [Na2Fe(SO4)2(OH)·H2O], the reaction to sideronatrite being reversible. Sideronatrite, it is suggested, forms as a result of weathering of pyrite that is present in the argillaceous sediments and reaction with Na from the sea-salt spray.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1999

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