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Formula: K2Sr(SO4)2
Anhydrous sulphate, palmierite group,
palmierite supergroup,
strontium-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Trigonal
Specific gravity:
Hardness: 2 to 2½
Colour: Colourless
Solubility: Soluble in water
Environments
Localities
At Pleismar, An der Poststraße, Burgenlandkreis, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, kalistrontite occurs as an alteration
product of celestine, associated with
halite, sylvite and
anhydrite
(HOM).
At the Omongwa salt pan, Aminuis, Omaheke Region, Namibia, kalistrontite is associated with
gypsum
(HOM).
At the type locality, Alshtan Village, Sterlitamak District, Bashkortostan, Russia, kalistrontite occurs as
single crystals, elongated along the prism, up to 20 mm long, and as flattened hexagonal tablets up to 22 mm across,
in saline anhydrite containing
clay and dolomite and a little
sylvite. It was found in a drill core from a depth of 447 m. It was
probably formed by reaction of sylvite with solutions containing
strontium
(AM 48.708-712).
At the York Potash Project, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK, kalistrontite has been discovered in
exceptional quantities in exploration boreholes targeting
polyhalite-bearing evaporite deposits. The kalistrontite is
associated with anhydrite,
polyhalite, halite,
magnesite, and traces of
celestine at depths of ~1.5 to 1.7 km below the surface. It is present in
two general forms.
First as irregularly shaped, millimetre-scale crystals that enclose fine, rounded, irregular crystals of
anhydrite, halite and
magnesite.
Second as a vein-fill formed of an interlocking mosaic of sub-millimetre scale crystals that are compositionally
zoned and again enclose fine rounded anhydrite and
halite crystals at vein margins.
Kalistrontite displays largely replacive contact relationships with both the earlier and simultaneously formed
anhydrite and halite, but before
at least some of the polyhalite. Vein-fill kalistrontite was
deposited by mineralising fluids proceeding along fractures, patchily replacing the pre-existing low-porosity
anhydrite and halite.
Kalistrontite is essentially stable from ambient temperature to ~960°C; melting occurs from ~960 to 1430°C
accompanied by the evolution of SO2
(AM 103.1136–1150).
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