Eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2, a new fumarolic mineral from Eldfell volcano, Iceland

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Tonci Balic Zunic
  • A. Garavelli
  • P. Acquafredda
  • E. Leonardsen
  • S.P. Jakobsson
A new mineral, eldfellite, was found among fumarolic encrustations collected in 1990 on the Eldfell volcano, Heimaey Island, Iceland. Associated minerals are ralstonite, anhydrite, gypsum, bassanite, hematite, opal and tamarugite, as well as a presumably new mineral with the composition Na3Fe(SO4)3. Along with opal and tamarugite, eldfellite forms soft and fragile aggregates built of thin, platy crystals of micrometre size. The mineral is yellowish-green to greenish-white, with a white streak. The calculated density is 3.062 g/cm3. Eldfellite is monoclinic, C2/m, a 8.043(4) Å, b 5.139(2) Å, c 7.115(4) Å, ß 92.13(2)°, Vuc 293.9(2) Å3, Z = 2 and is isostructural with yavapaiite[KFe(SO4)2]. The strongest lines in the powder diffraction diagram are [d (Å), I (relative to 10)]: 3.72, 8; 3.64, 5; 3.43, 5; 2.77, 10; 2.72, 6; 2.57, 3; 2.370, 6; 1.650, 3. The chemical analysis and the X-ray diffraction data of eldfellite correspond to those of the synthetic compound NaFe(SO4)2.
Original languageEnglish
JournalMineralogical Magazine
Volume73
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)51-57
ISSN0026-461X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Science - eldfellite, new mineral, fumaroles, new mineral species

ID: 16303720