Anhydrite Mineral Data

General Anhydrite Information

Chemical Formula:

CaSO4

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 136.14 gm

Calcium 29.44 % Ca 41.19 % CaO

Sulfur 23.55 % S 58.81 % SO₃

Oxygen 47.01 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

Ca(SO₄)

Environment:

Sedimentary beds, gangue in ore veins, and in traprock zeolite occurrences.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1795

Locality:

World wide occurrences where marine evaporite beds occur. Often interbedded with halite. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

From the Greek anhydros, meaning "waterless" (In contrast to Gypsum, which contains water).

Name Pronunciation:

Anhydrite + Pronunciation

Synonym:

Calcium Sulfate

ICSD 16382

PDF 37-1496

Anhydrite Image

Images:

Anhydrite

Comments: Several terminated groups of light blue anhydrite crystals in parallel growth.
Location: Naica. Chihuahua, Mexico. Scale: 9.5 x 8 x 6 cm.
© Isaias Casanova / IC Minerals

Anhydrite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:b:c =0.9992:1:0.8916

Cell Dimensions:

a = 6.991, b = 6.996, c = 6.238, Z = 4; V = 305.09 Den(Calc)= 2.96

Crystal System:

Orthorhombic - Dipyramidal H-M Symbol (2/m 2/m 2/m) Space Group: Amma

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 3.49(1), 2.849(0.35), 2.328(0.2),

Forms:

Mouse
Dbl Clk - Start-Stop Rotation
RMB - Cycle Display Modes
Drag1 - Manipulate Crystal
Drag2 - Resize
Keyboard
S - Stereo
I - Indicies
<space> - Start-Stop Rotation
F - Fit to Screen
M - Menu
Help on Above

Forms: ( 0 1 0) ( 0 1 1) ( 0 0 1) ( 1 0 1) ( 1 0 0)

Warning: this java applet does not work in some browsers because of security restrictions.

Physical Properties of Anhydrite

Cleavage:

{010} Perfect, {100} Perfect, {001} Good

Color:

Colorless, White, Bluish white, Violet white, Dark gray.

Density:

2.96 - 2.98, Average = 2.97

Diaphaneity:

Transparent to Subtransparent to translucent

Fracture:

Brittle - Conchoidal - Very brittle fracture producing small, conchoidal fragments.

Habit:

Massive - Fibrous - Distinctly fibrous fine-grained forms.

Habit:

Massive - Granular - Common texture observed in granite and other igneous rock.

Habit:

Plumose - "Mica-like" minerals forming aggregates of plume-like forms.

Hardness:

3.5 - Copper Penny

Luminescence:

Non-fluorescent.

Luster:

Vitreous - Pearly

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Anhydrite

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= -0.037 (Excellent) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= -0.04 (Good) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.1983,KPDmeas= 0.1976,KC= 0.1906
Ncalc = 1.56 - 1.57

Optical Data:

Biaxial (+), a=1.569-1.573, b=1.574-1.579, g=1.609-1.618, bire=0.0400-0.0450, 2V(Calc)=44, 2V(Meas)=36-45. Dispersion r < v.

Pleochroism (x):

colorless.

Pleochroism (y):

colorless.

Calculated Properties of Anhydrite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=2.97 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Anhydrite =2.97 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.0023895646
Boson Index = 0.9976104354

Photoelectric:

PE_Anhydrite= 5.03 barns/electron
U=PE_Anhydrite x rElectron Density= 14.93 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Anhydrite is Not Radioactive

Anhydrite Classification

Dana Class:

28.03.02.01 (28)Anhydrous Acid and Sulfates

(28.03)(A++) XO4

(28.03.02)Dana Group

28.03.02.01 Anhydrite CaSO4 Amma 2/m 2/m 2/m

Strunz Class:

07.AD.30 07 - SULFATES (SELENATES, TELLURATES)

07.A - Sulfates (selenates, etc.) without Additional Anions, without H2O

07.AD -With only large cations

07.AD.30 Anhydrite CaSO4 Amma 2/m 2/m 2/m

Other Anhydrite Information

Search for Anhydrite using:

[AOL] [Bing] [Dog Pile] [GeoScienceWorld] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [Lycos] [MAMMA] [Scirus] [Teoma] [WebCrawler] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Anhydrite :

Ask about Anhydrite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
Mindat.org's Discussion Groups
Original Rockhounds Discussion Group
Rockhounds Discussion Group on Yahoo Groups
Mineral Discussion Forum from Fabre Minerals - also available in Espa�ol

Print or Cut-and-Paste your Anhydrite Specimen Label here :

Anhydrite

CaSO4
Dana No: 28.03.02.01 Strunz No: 07.AD.30
Locality:

Notes:

Dakota Matrix
Excalibur Minerals
Exceptional Minerals
Hudson Insitute
John Betts Fine Minerals
Mc Dougall Minerals
Mineral News
Rock and Mineral Shows
Weinrich Minerals, Inc.