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Formula: [Ca4Al2(OH)12(H2O)4][Fe2S4]
Layered double hydroxide, hydrocalumite group,
hydrotalcite supergroup
Crystal system: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 2.005 calculated
Hardness: 3 to 3½
Colour: Purple-brown, transparent green-grey in transmitted light
Environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Mariakrite is a new mineral, approved in 2021 and to date (August 2025) pending publication and reported only
from the type locality.
Localities
About 2 km southeast of the Hatrurim Junction, Hatrurim Basin, Negev Desert, Israel, mariakrite was discovered
in late hydrothermal assemblages confined to pyrometamorphic lithologies of the Hatrurim Formation. The mineral forms
sabre-like crystals up to 2 mm long, 0.1 mm wide and 0.5 to 2 μm thick, residing in millimeter-sized cavities within
larnite - jasmundite -
brownmillerite rock. Associated minerals are
katoite, portlandite,
kuzelite and hydrocalumite
(AM January 2025).
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