Veatchite is an unusual

strontium Strontium is the chemical element with the symbol Sr and atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white yellowish metallic element that is highly chemically reactive. The metal forms a dark oxide layer when it is ex ...

borate, with the chemical formula Sr₂B₁₁O₁₆(OH)₅·H₂O. There are two known

polytype In materials science, polymorphism describes the existence of a solid material in more than one form or crystal structure. Polymorphism is a form of isomerism. Any crystalline material can exhibit the phenomenon. Allotropy refers to polymorphism ...

s, veatchite-A and veatchite-p.Grice J D, Pring A (2012) Veatchite: structural relationships of the three polytypes, American Mineralogist 97, 489-495 Veatchite was discovered in 1938, at the Sterling Borax mine in Tick Canyon,

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Veatchite is named to honor

John Veatch John Allen Veatch (5 March 180824 April 1870), a surgeon, surveyor, and scientist, was known for his discovery of large deposits of borax at Tuscan Springs, California, on 8 January 1856. Veatch moved with his family to Texas in 1833, where he su ...

, the first person to detect

boron Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the ''boron group'' it has th ...

in the mineral waters of California.

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Strontium minerals Phylloborates Monoclinic minerals Minerals in space group 9 {{mineral-stub

See also

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External links