Rosickyite is a rare native element mineral that is a

polymorph Polymorphism, polymorphic, polymorph, polymorphous, or polymorphy may refer to: Computing * Polymorphism (computer science), the ability in programming to present the same programming interface for differing underlying forms * Ad hoc polymorphi ...

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

. It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system and is a high temperature, high density polymorph. It occurs as soft, colorless to pale yellow crystals and efflorescences. It was first described in 1930 for an occurrence in Havirna, near

Letovice Letovice (german: Lettowitz) is a town in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,700 inhabitants. Administrative parts The town part of Třebětín and villages of Babolky, Chlum, Dolní Smržov, Jasino ...

, Moravia, Czech Republic. It was named for Vojtĕch Rosický (1880–1942), of Masaryk University,

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

. Rosickyite occurs as in Death Valley within an evaporite layer produced by a microbial community. The otherwise unstable polymorph was produced and stabilized within a

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

dominated layer.Susanne Douglas and Heixong Yang, ''Mineral biosignatures in evaporites: Presence of rosickyite in an endoevaporitic microbial community from Death Valley, California,'' Geology, Dec. 2002, v 30, pp1075-1078

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosickyite Native element minerals Monoclinic minerals Minerals in space group 13 Sulfur Polymorphism (materials science)