Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white monoclinic mineral that forms as an evaporite from sodium sulfate-bearing brines. It is found around saline springs and along saline playa lakes. Associated minerals include gypsum, halite, thenardite, trona, glauberite, and epsomite.
Mirabilite is unstable and quickly dehydrates in dry air, the prismatic crystals turning into a white powder, thenardite (Na2SO4). In turn, thenardite can also absorb water and converts to mirabilite.
Mirabilite is used as a purgative and anti-inflammatory remedy in the Traditional Chinese medicine; in Mandarin, it is called máng xiāo. The name 'mirabilite' is based on the phrase "Sal mirabilis" (Latin for "wonderful salt") used by Johann Rudolph Glauber when he inadvertently synthesized mirabilite.[4][5]
Mirabilite is found in several areas within the Mammoth Cave System, where it appears to have been mined by Late Archaic and Early Woodland peoples, probably for use as a laxative.
[6]
Four mirabilite mounds were documented on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States, in January 2020. These developed where springs surfaced along the beach, which had been exposed due to lower lake elevations, and cold air helped preserve the salt precipitate. This was documented by the Utah Geological Survey[7] as well as reported in the press.[8]
^Hill, James C. (1979). "Johann Glauber's discovery of sodium sulfate - Sal Mirabile Glauberi". Journal of Chemical Education. 56 (9): 593. Bibcode:1979JChEd..56..593H. doi:10.1021/ed056p593.
^
White, William B. (2017). "Mineralogy of Mammoth Cave". In Hobbs, Horton H. III; Olson, Richard A.; Winkler, Elizabeth G.; Culver, David C. (eds.). Mammoth Cave: A Human and Natural History. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. pp. 145–162. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53718-4_9. ISBN 978-3-319-53717-7.
^Mirabilite spring mounds mapped by the Utah Geological Survey at Great Salt Lake.
^KUTV News: Rare salt formations appear along the great salt lake.
Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white...
sulfate, a very rare form. Decahydrate sodium sulfate, known as the mineral mirabilite, widely used by chemical industry. It is also known as Glauber's salt...
aragonite). Less commonly, speleothems are made of calcium sulfate (gypsum or mirabilite) or opal. Speleothems of pure calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate are...
melanterite, gypsum, halotrichite, pickeringite, alunogen, rozenite, and mirabilite. Naturally occurring epsomite in caverns can potentially produce particulates...
jarosite, sylvite and hematite in fumaroles; with blödite, syngenite, mirabilite, picromerite, borax and halite in evaporites; and with syngenite, whitlockite...
borax, meyerhofferite, hydroboracite, probertite, glauberite, trona, mirabilite, calcite, gypsum and halite. It is found principally in California and...
often found in association with thermonatrite, nahcolite, trona, halite, mirabilite, gaylussite, gypsum, and calcite. Most industrially produced sodium carbonate...
indium, zirconium, platinum, rock salt, sylvite, nickel, phosphate, mirabilite, arsenic and blue asbestos are also high. Significant copper deposits...
these deposits include blödite, borax, epsomite, gaylussite, glauberite, mirabilite, thenardite and trona. Non-marine deposits may also contain halite, gypsum...
attapulgite clay mixed with the eutectic salt, sodium sulfate decahydrate (mirabilite or Glauber's salt), keeps anhydrous crystals suspended in the solution...
of clay, sand, and a variety of minerals including halite, burkeite, mirabilite, thenardite, and trona. In wet years, these minerals form a chemical soup...
limestone, kaolin, natural gas, gypsum, dolomite, mineral water and mirabilite are relatively large. The state focuses on protecting rare plants such...
as with sodium sulfate, where the less soluble decahydrate crystal (mirabilite) loses water of crystallization at 32 °C to form a more soluble anhydrous...
is commonly associated with other evaporite minerals such as epsomite, mirabilite, halides, and other sodium-magnesium-sulfates. There is some evidence...
occurs associated with halite, polyhalite, anhydrite, gypsum, thenardite, mirabilite, sassolite and blodite. Because of its solubility, glauberite is often...
repeated glaciations. The plateau also contains deposits of lignite, mirabilite (sodium sulfate), and bentonite. While subjected to continental glaciation...
closure in 2012. Mercury: Important sources are in the Urals Mountains. Mirabilite: Sources are in the Kara-Bogaz gulf. The existence of coal, estimated...
grinding nuts and seeds. They mined Mammoth and Salts Caves for gypsum and mirabilite, a salty seasoning. Shellfish was still an important part of their diet...
222 billion tonnes (1.203 billion long tons; 1.347 billion short tons) and mirabilite reserves are 1.908 billion tonnes (1.878 billion long tons; 2.103 billion...
sepiolite, baryte are ranked No. 1 in China. Manganese, vanadium, rhenium, mirabilite, arsenic and kaolinite reached number 2 in China. Zinc, aluminium, tin...
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