Cuprosklodowskite is a secondary

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 ...

mineral formed by alteration of earlier uranium minerals. Its empirical formula is Cu(UO₂)₂(HSiO₄)₂·6(H₂O). Cuprosklodowskite is a nesosilicate mineral, It is grass green to dark green in color, and its

crystal habit In mineralogy, crystal habit is the characteristic external shape of an individual crystal or crystal group. The habit of a crystal is dependent on its crystallographic form and growth conditions, which generally creates irregularities due to l ...

is typically acicular, flat bladed crystals. It is a strongly

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...

mineral. Cuprosklodowskite was discovered in 1933 at the Kalongwe deposit in (then) Katanga province,

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

, the type locality. It was named in the mistaken belief that the mineral was the copper analogue of sklodowskite, which in turn was named for

Marie Skłodowska Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

(1867–1934). It occurs in association with becquerelite,

brochantite Brochantite is a sulfate mineral, one of a number of cupric sulfates. Its chemical formula is Cu4SO4(OH)6. Formed in arid climates or in rapidly oxidizing copper sulfide deposits, it was named by Armand Lévy for his fellow Frenchman, geologis ...

, uranophane, kasolite,

vandenbrandeite Vandenbrandeite is a mineral named after a belgian geologist, Pierre Van den Brande, who discovered an ore deposit. It was named in 1932, and has been a valid mineral ever since then. Properties Vandenbrandeite grows in microcrystals, up to ha ...

, liebigite and compreignacite.

References

Uranium(VI) minerals Copper(II) minerals Nesosilicates Triclinic minerals Minerals in space group 2 Minerals described in 1933 {{silicate-mineral-stub