How do I identify Tuperssuatsiaite?

Tuperssuatsiaite can be identified by its Golden-yellow color. Look for these key characteristics when examining specimens.

What color is Tuperssuatsiaite?

Tuperssuatsiaite typically appears in Golden-yellow, reddish brown, orange-yellow. Color can vary depending on impurities and formation conditions.

Tuperssuatsiaite

A variety of Minerals

What is Tuperssuatsiaite?

Tuperssuatsiaite is a rare clay mineral found in Greenland, Namibia and Brazil. It is a hydrated phyllosilicate (sheet silicate) of sodium and iron.

Tuperssuatsiaite Market Value Calculator

Estimate the market value of Tuperssuatsiaite using size, quality, and finish. This preview calculator is for quick context and is not a formal appraisal.

Tuperssuatsiaite Localities Map

See where Tuperssuatsiaite is found with a localities map, collecting zones, and geology context. Generate a sample map preview below.

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North ZoneCentral RidgeSouth Basin

Key Characteristics

Characteristics of Tuperssuatsiaite

Cleavage is good on a plane containing the b and c crystal axes, parallel to the layers within the structure, and twinning is common. Fracture is uneven to conchoidal (shell-like) and the mineral is brittle; it is quite light, with specific gravity 2.465, which is similar to that of quartz.

Appearance of Tuperssuatsiaite

Tuperssuatsiaite occurs as fan-shaped aggregates up to several centimeters across, as rosettes and as fibers elongated parallel to the c axis. It is red-brown in reflected light, and colorless to light yellowish brown in transmitted light, with a brownish yellow streak. Crystals are transparent with a bright vitreous luster, but aggregates may be dull and translucent.

Composition of Tuperssuatsiaite

The mineral belongs to the monoclinic crystal class 2/m, meaning that it has a twofold axis of rotational symmetry perpendicular to a mirror plane. At one time it was thought that the material from Namibia might belong to the monoclinic class 2, without the mirror plane, but a more recent study gives it as 2/m, the same as the material from Greenland. The space group is B2/m, meaning that in the unit cell there is one structural unit at each vertex, and one in the centre of each B face. The palygorskite-sepiolite minerals are clay minerals with a layered structure. In tuperssuatsiaite ribbons of SiO4 tetrahedra, similar to those in the amphibole structure, are aligned parallel to the c crystal axis, and they link to form layers parallel to the plane containing the a and b axes. The spacing between the layers, in the c direction, is about 5 Å, which is typical for minerals with an amphibole-type structure, due to the repeat distance along the chains of tetrahedra. Channels occur that could be occupied by H2O as in palygorskite.