Abernathyite is a

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

with

formula In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...

K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·3H₂O. The mineral is named after Jesse Evrett Abernathy (1913–1963) who first noted it in 1953 in the U.S. State of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. It was described as a new mineral species in 1956. Abernathyite is yellow and occurs as small crystals.

Description

Abernathyite is a transparent, yellow mineral that occurs as tabular crystals up to . The mineral has a single perfect cleavage on . Abernathyite fluoresces yellow-green in longwave and shortwave ultraviolet. Because of its

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

content, the mineral is radioactive.

Occurrence and formation

Abernathyite forms as a coating on fractures of asphaltic sandstone containing uranium deposits. The mineral occurs in association with

heinrichite Heinrichite is a monoclinic-prismatic containing arsenic, barium, hydrogen, oxygen, and uranium. The mineral is named after Eberhardt William Heinrich (1918–1991) who first noted it in 1958 in the U.S. State of Oregon. Description Heinrichi ...

scorodite Scorodite is a common hydrated iron arsenate mineral, with the chemical formula FeAsO4·2H2O. It is found in hydrothermal deposits and as a secondary mineral in gossans worldwide. Scorodite weathers to limonite. Scorodite was discovered in the S ...

, and

zeunerite Zeunerite is a green copper uranium arsenate mineral with formula Cu(UO2)2(AsO4)2•(10-16)H2O. It is a member of the autunite group. The associated mineral metazeunerite is a dehydration product of zeunerite. Zeunerite occurs as a secondary miner ...

. Abernathyite is known from France, Germany, Poland, South Africa, and the United States.

Structure and formula

When first described in 1956, the formula was identified as K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·4H₂O. However, only about 25 milligrams of the mineral was available for analysis, so a number of precautions were taken by running duplicate analyses and using artificial mixtures. In 1964, further study of the mineral identified inconsistencies between electron-density subtraction maps and the chemical evidence that abernathyite contains potassium. This led the authors to revise the formula as K(UO₂)(AsO₄)·3H₂O. Abernathyite crystallizes in the

tetragonal crystal system In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...

History

Jess Abernathy was the operator of the Fuemrol mine in

Emery County, Utah Emery County is a county in east-central Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,976. Its county seat is Castle Dale, and the largest city is Huntington. History Prehistory Occupation of the San Rafael ...

. In the summer of 1953, he noted yellow crystals coating sandstone at the mine which he thought might be mineralogically significant. The specimens were sent to

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mos ...

, for study by

United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President H ...

(AEC) mineralogist E. B. Gross. He could not match the mineral's optical properties with any known species, so he sent the specimens to Washington D.C. where adequate facilities were available for further investigation. Mineralogists A. D. Weeks and M. E. Thompson of the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

studied the mineral on behalf of the AEC's Raw Materials Division. Abernathyite was described in the journal ''American Mineralogist'' in 1956. The mineral was named ''abernathyite'' in honor of discoverer Jess Abernathy.

Type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

are held in the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

in Washington, D.C.

References

;Bibliography * *

External links

{{Wiktionary
Image of abernathyite
from mindat.org Uranium(VI) minerals Potassium minerals Arsenate minerals Tetragonal minerals Minerals in space group 130 Minerals described in 1956