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Formula: Na2Ca2(CO3)3
Anhydrous normal carbonate
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 2.6 measured, 2.605 calculated
Hardness: 3
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless, light yellow, light green
Solubility: Decomposes in water giving a calcium carbonate precipitate.
Shortite is strongly pyroelectric. It inverts at about 200oC and melts incongruently at about 600oC
(Mindat).
Environments:
Carbonatites
Sedimentary environments
Localities
At the Upper Canada mine, Gauthier Township, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, shortite occurs in
kimberlite dikes associated with
phlogopite, magnetite,
apatite, perovskite,
calcite and olivine
(HOM).
At the Poudrette quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada, shortite
is associated with an intrusive alkalic gabbro -
syenite complex
(HOM).
Shortite from the Poudrette Quarry - Image
At the Khibiny Massif, Murmansk Oblast, Russia, shortite occurs in the differentiated alkalic massif
associated with barentsite,
villiaumite, natrite,
natrolite and albite
(HOM).
At the Vuoriyarvi alkaline-ultrabasic massif, Northern Karelia, Murmansk Oblast, Russia, shortite occurs in a
carbonatite
(HOM).
At the Green River Formation, Wyoming and Utah, USA, shortite occurs in saline
dolomitic marl, associated with
trona, nahcolite and
pyrite
(HOM).
Shortite from the Green River Formation -
Image
The type locality is the John Hay Jr. Well No. 1, Sweetwater County, Wyoming, USA, part of the Green River Formation.
Shortite from the John Hay Jr. Well No. 1 -
Image
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