Jarosite
Encyclopedia
Jarosite is a basic hydrous
Hydrate
Hydrate is a term used in inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry to indicate that a substance contains water. The chemical state of the water varies widely between hydrates, some of which were so labeled before their chemical structure was understood....

 sulfate
Sulfate
In inorganic chemistry, a sulfate is a salt of sulfuric acid.-Chemical properties:...

 of potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...

 and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 with a chemical formula of KFe3+3(OH)6(SO4)2. This sulfate mineral
Sulfate mineral
The sulfate minerals are a class of minerals which include the sulfate ion within their structure. The sulfate minerals occur commonly in primary evaporite depositional environments, as gangue minerals in hydrothermal veins and as secondary minerals in the oxidizing zone of sulfide mineral deposits...

 is formed in ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....

 deposits by the oxidation of iron sulfide
Sulfide
A sulfide is an anion of sulfur in its lowest oxidation state of 2-. Sulfide is also a slightly archaic term for thioethers, a common type of organosulfur compound that are well known for their bad odors.- Properties :...

s. Jarosite is often produced as a byproduct during the purification and refining of zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

 and is also commonly associated with acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage , or acid rock drainage , refers to the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. However, other areas where the earth has been disturbed may also contribute acid rock drainage to the environment...

 and acid sulfate soil
Acid sulfate soil
Acid sulfate soils are naturally occurring soils, sediments or organic substrates that are formed under waterlogged conditions. These soils contain iron sulfide minerals or their oxidation products. In an undisturbed state below the water table, acid sulfate soils are benign...

 environments.

Physical properties

Jarosite has a trigonal crystal structure and is brittle, with basal cleavage, a hardness
Mohs scale of mineral hardness
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in...

 of 2.5-3.5, and a specific gravity
Specific gravity
Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance. Apparent specific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the substance to the weight of an equal volume of the reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always water for...

 of 3.15-3.26. It is translucent to opaque with a vitreous to dull lustre, and is colored dark yellow to yellowish-brown. It can sometimes be confused with limonite
Limonite
Limonite is an ore consisting in a mixture of hydrated iron oxide-hydroxide of varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as limonite often contains a varying amount of oxide compared to hydroxide.Together with hematite, it has...

 or goethite
Goethite
Goethite , named after the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is an iron bearing oxide mineral found in soil and other low-temperature environments. Goethite has been well known since prehistoric times for its use as a pigment. Evidence has been found of its use in paint pigment samples...

 with which it commonly occurs in the gossan
Gossan
Gossan is intensely oxidized, weathered or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein. In the classic gossan or iron cap all that remains is iron oxides and quartz often in the form of boxworks, quartz lined cavities retaining the shape of the dissolved...

 (oxidized cap over an ore body). Jarosite is an iron analogue of the potassium aluminium sulfate, alunite
Alunite
Alunite is a sulfate mineral that was first observed in the 15th century in Monti della Tolfa, north of Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum. First called aluminilite by J.C. Delamétherie in 1797, this name was contracted by François Beudant in 1824 to alunite.Distinct crystals of...

.

Solid solution series

The alunite supergroup includes the alunite
Alunite
Alunite is a sulfate mineral that was first observed in the 15th century in Monti della Tolfa, north of Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum. First called aluminilite by J.C. Delamétherie in 1797, this name was contracted by François Beudant in 1824 to alunite.Distinct crystals of...

, jarosite, beudantite
Beudantite
Beudandite is a secondary mineral occurring in the oxidized zones of polymetallic deposits. It is a lead, iron, arsenate, sulfate with endmember formula: PbFe36SO4AsO4....

, crandallite and florencite subgroups. The alunite supergroup minerals are isostructural with each other and substitution between them occurs, resulting in several solid solution
Solid solution
A solid solution is a solid-state solution of one or more solutes in a solvent. Such a mixture is considered a solution rather than a compound when the crystal structure of the solvent remains unchanged by addition of the solutes, and when the mixture remains in a single homogeneous phase...

 series. The alunite supergroup has the general formula AB3(TO4)2(OH)6. In the alunite subgroup B is Al, and in the jarosite subgroup B is Fe3+. The beudantite subgroup has the general formula AB3(XO4)(SO4)(OH)6, the crandallite subgroup AB3(TO4)2(OH)5.H2O and the florencite subgroup AB3(TO4)2(OH)5or6.

In the jarosite-alunite series Al may substitute for Fe and a complete solid solution series between jarosite and alunite, KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6, probably exists, but intermediate members are rare. The material from Kopec
Kopec
Kopeć is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Grabów nad Prosną, within Ostrzeszów County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Grabów nad Prosną, north-east of Ostrzeszów, and south-east of the regional capital Poznań.-References:...

, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, has about equal Fe and Al, but the amount of Al in jarosite is usually small.

In the jarosite-natrojarosite series Na substitutes for K to at least Na/K = 1:2.4 but the pure sodium end member NaFe3+3(SO4)2(OH)6 is not known in nature. Minerals with Na > K are known as natrojarosite. End member formation (jarosite and natrojarosite) is favoured by a low temperature environment, less than 100 °C, and is illustrated by the oscillatory zoning of jarosite and natrojarosite found in samples from the Apex Mine, Arizona, and Gold Hill, Utah
Gold Hill, Utah
Gold Hill is a small, unincorporated community in far western Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah near the Nevada state line. The town, located near the Deep Creek Mountains, was the center of a mining district that was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, producing...

. This indicates that there is a wide miscibility
Miscibility
Miscibility is the property of liquids to mix in all proportions, forming a homogeneous solution. In principle, the term applies also to other phases , but the main focus is usually on the solubility of one liquid in another...

 gap between the two end members, and it is doubtful whether a complete series exists between jarosite and natrojarosite.

In hydroniumjarosite the hydronium
Hydronium
In chemistry, a hydronium ion is the cation , a type of oxonium ion produced by protonation of water. This cation is often used to represent the nature of the proton in aqueous solution, where the proton is highly solvated...

 ion H3O+ can also substitute for K+, with increased hydronium ion content causing a marked decrease in the lattice parameter c, although there is little change in a. Hydroniumjarosite will only form from alkali-deficient solutions, as alkali-rich jarosite forms preferentially.

Divalent cations may also substitute for the monovalent cation K+ in the A site. Charge balance may be achieved in three ways.
Firstly by replacing two monovalent cations by one divalent cation, and leaving an A site vacancy, as in plumbogummite
Plumbogummite
Plumbogummite is a rare secondary lead phosphate mineral, belonging to the alunite supergroup of minerals, crandallite subgroup. Some other members of this subgroup are:*Crandallite, CaAl325·H2O, where calcium replaces lead...

, Pb2+Al3(PO4)2(OH)5.H2O, which is a member of the crandallite subgroup.
Secondly by incorporating divalent ions in the B sites, as in osarizawaite
Osarizawaite
Osarizawaite is a greenish yellow mineral with the chemical formula PbCuAl226. It has rhombohedral crystals....

, Pb2+Cu2+Al2(SO4)2(OH)6, alunite subgroup, and beaverite, Pb2+Cu2+(Fe3+,Al)2(SO4)2(OH)6, jarosite subgroup.
Thirdly by replacing divalent anions with trivalent anions, as in beudantite
Beudantite
Beudandite is a secondary mineral occurring in the oxidized zones of polymetallic deposits. It is a lead, iron, arsenate, sulfate with endmember formula: PbFe36SO4AsO4....

, PbFe3+3(AsO4)3-(SO4)(OH)6, beudantite subgroup.

History

Jarosite was first described in 1852 by August Breithaupt
August Breithaupt
Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt was a German mineralogist and professor at Freiberg Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony.-Biography:...

 in the Barranco del Jaroso in the Sierra Almagrera (near Los Lobos, Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería
Almería (province)
-History:The rich customs and Fiestas of the denizens retain links deep into the past, unto the Moors, the Romans, the Greeks, and the Phoenicians.During the taifa era, it was ruled by the Moor Banu al-Amiri from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by Valencia , then given by Zaragoza to the Banu Sumadih...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

). The name jarosite is also directly derived from Jara, the Spanish name of a yellow flower growing in this sierra. The mineral and the flower have the same color.

In 2004 jarosite was detected on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

 by a Mössbauer spectrometer on the MER-B rover, which has been interpreted as strong evidence that Mars once possessed large amounts of liquid water.

Use in materials science

Jarosite is also a more generic term denoting an extensive family of compounds of the form AM3(OH)6(SO4)2, where A+ = Na
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...

, K
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...

, Rb
Rubidium
Rubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group. Its atomic mass is 85.4678. Elemental rubidium is highly reactive, with properties similar to those of other elements in group 1, such as very rapid...

, NH4
Ammonium
The ammonium cation is a positively charged polyatomic cation with the chemical formula NH. It is formed by the protonation of ammonia...

, H3O
Hydronium
In chemistry, a hydronium ion is the cation , a type of oxonium ion produced by protonation of water. This cation is often used to represent the nature of the proton in aqueous solution, where the proton is highly solvated...

, Ag
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

, Tl
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...

 and M3+ = Fe
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

, Cr
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...

, V
Vanadium
Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...

. In condensed matter physics
Condensed matter physics
Condensed matter physics deals with the physical properties of condensed phases of matter. These properties appear when a number of atoms at the supramolecular and macromolecular scale interact strongly and adhere to each other or are otherwise highly concentrated in a system. The most familiar...

 and materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...

 they are renowned for containing layers with kagome lattice
Kagome lattice
A kagome lattice is an arrangement of laths composed of interlaced triangles such that each point where two laths cross has four neighboring points...

 structure, relating to geometrically frustrated magnets.

See also

  • Alunite
    Alunite
    Alunite is a sulfate mineral that was first observed in the 15th century in Monti della Tolfa, north of Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum. First called aluminilite by J.C. Delamétherie in 1797, this name was contracted by François Beudant in 1824 to alunite.Distinct crystals of...

  • Iron(III) sulfate
    Iron(III) sulfate
    Iron sulfate , is the chemical compound with the formula Fe23, the sulfate of trivalent iron. Usually yellow, it is a rhombic crystalline salt and soluble in water at room temperature. It is used in dyeing as a mordant, and as a coagulant for industrial wastes. It is also used in pigments, and in...

  • Spirit Mars rover final embedding event

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK