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Formula: Mg(SO4).7H2O
Hydrated normal sulphate, epsomite group, forms a series with
morenosite and with goslarite.
Epitaxial on muscovite,
morenosite and goslarite
(Mindat).
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 1.675 to 1.679 measured, 1.678 calculated
Hardness: 2 to 2½
Streak: White
Colour: White, sometimes greenish, reddish, yellowish
Solubility: Effloresces in dry air. Very soluble in water.
Common impurities: Ni,Fe,Co,Mn,Zn
Environments:
Evaporite deposits
Hot spring deposits
Cave deposits
Epsomite is typically found growing as efflorescences in sheltered spots on outcrops of
dolostone or limestone; it is often found
growing on the walls of caves and in salt lake deposits, and also on the walls of coal and metal mines, including on wooden supports and
abandoned equipment. Epsomite is likely to occur in the Martian soils and on the satellites of Jupiter (Mindat). It is a product
of evaporation at mineral springs and saline lakes, a hydration product of kieserite and
langbeinite, and rarely a fumarolic sublimate. In efflorescences it is associated with
melanterite, gypsum,
halotrichite, pickeringite,
alunogen and rozenite; in lacustrine evaporites
it is associated with mirabilite
(HOM).
Localities
In the evaporite basins in the Mallee district, Murray basin, south-eastern Australia, crude crystals of epsomite form with
halite and gypsum in the black mud under the salt crust
of the halite salt lakes
(AJM 10.1.17).
At Llallagua, Rafael Bustillo, Potosí, Bolivia, epsomite fibres occur on melanterite
and chalcanthite stalactities
(Minrec 37.2.133).
At Gordon's Quarry, Kaukapakapa, Auckland Region, North Island, New Zealand, nickel-bearing
epsomite was found as efflorescent
patches on freshly broken surfaces of serpentinite where the
serpentinite encloses scattered grains of
pentlandite-bearing pyrrhotite. Tn the same quarry
nickel-free epsomite was also observed at other points on the
serpentinite surface.
The pyrrhotite has been oxidised to give ferric sulfate and sulfuric acid; the sulfuric acid
has apparently reacted with the serpentinite and with the
pentlandite in the pyrrhotite giving sulphates
including epsomite
(AM 32.553-560).
At the Brownley Hill mine, Nenthead, Alston Moor, Eden, Cumbria, England, UK, epsomite occurs as hairlike crystals to 10 cm, alone
or with gypsum, as post-mining efflorescences on the mine walls
(Minrec 31.3.245).
The type locality is Epsom Spa, Epsom and Ewell, Surrey, England, UK.
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