Libbyite, (NH 4 ) 2 (Na 2 □)[(UO 2 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 3 (H 2 O)] 2 ⋅7H 2 O, a new mineral with uranyl–sulfate sheets from the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA

• Published in: Mineralogical magazine 2023-10, Vol.87 (5), p.767-772
• Main Authors: Kampf, Anthony R., Olds, Travis A., Plášil, Jakub, Nash, Barbara P., Marty, Joe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0026-461X; 1471-8022
• DOI: 10.1180/mgm.2023.26

The new mineral libbyite (IMA2022-091), (NH 4 ) 2 (Na 2 □)[(UO 2 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 3 (H 2 O)] 2 ⋅7H 2 O, was found in the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA, where it occurs as tightly intergrown aggregates of light green–yellow equant crystals in a secondary assemblage with bobcookite, coquimbite, halotrichite, metavoltine, rhomboclase, römerite, tamarugite, voltaite and zincorietveldite. The streak is very pale green yellow and the fluorescence is strong green under 405 nm ultraviolet light. Crystals are transparent with vitreous lustre. The tenacity is brittle, the Mohs hardness is ~2½, the fracture is curved. The mineral is soluble in H 2 O and has a calculated density of 3.465 g⋅cm –3 . The mineral is optically uniaxial (–) with ω = 1.581(2) and ɛ = 1.540(2). Electron microprobe analyses provided (NH 4 ) 1.92 K 0.08 Na 2.00 U 4.00 S 6.00 O 41 H 18.00 . Libbyite is tetragonal, P 4 1 2 1 2, a = 10.7037(11), c = 31.824(2) Å, V = 3646.0(8) Å 3 and Z = 4. The structural unit is a uranyl–sulfate sheet that has the same topology as the sheets in several synthetic uranyl selenates.