Basaluminite is now included in wikipedia

A new article in wikipedia has been created for basaluminite, including the information relative to its descreditation in favour of felsobanyaite.

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Basaluminite is a hydrated aluminium sulphate, with ideal formula of Al₄(SO₄)(OH)₁₀·5H₂O. The mineral name has been discredited (Burke, 2006) by the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN) of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) in favour of the name of Felsobanyaite.

It is a white, yellow, orange or brown mineral of low crystallinity. This mineral was first described by Bannister & Hollingsworth (1948) and it seems to form after the dehydration, even on air-drying, of the highly hydrated Hydrobasaluminite (Al₄(OH)₁₀SO₄·12-36H₂O). Further dehydration at 150ºCwould lead to the formation of Metabasaluminite (Al₄(OH)₁₀SO₄; Hollingsworth & Bannister, 1950).

Typically it appears as a weathering product of clays, as the result of acid released from the oxidation of pyrite; probably always a dehydration product of hydrobasaluminite; as coatings on joint surfaces and veinlets in ironstone (Irchester, England); in chalk (Clifton Hill, England); a reaction rim surrounding carbonate concretions (Chickerell, England); on fractures in garnet–sillimanite laterite (Kanogami, Japan) (http://www.handbookofmineralogy.com/pdfs/basaluminite.pdf).

 Basaluminite has been described as the dominant Al mineral formed when acid mine drainage is mixed with circumneutral buffered pH waters (Clayton, 1980; Bigham and Nordstrom, 2000).

Reference list

• http://www.handbookofmineralogy.com/pdfs/basaluminite.pdf
• Bannister, F. A., & Hollingworth, S. E. (1948). Two new British minerals. Nature, 162, 565.
• Bigham J. M. and Nordstrom D. K. (2000) Iron and aluminium hydroxysulfates from acid sulfate waters. In Sulfate Minerals – Crystallography, Geochemistry and Environmental Significance. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington DC, USA, pp.351–403.
• Brydon J. E.; Singh S. Shah, 1969: The nature of the synthetic crystalline basic aluminum sulphates as compared with basaluminite. The Canadian Mineralogist 9, Part 5(Pages 644-654.
• Burke, E. A. (2006). A mass discreditation of GQN minerals. The Canadian Mineralogist, 44(6), 1557-1560.
• Clayton T. (1980) Hydrobasaluminite and basaluminite from Chickerell, Dorset. Mineral. Mag. 43, 931–937.
• Hollingworth, S. E. & Bannister, F. A. (1950): Basaluminite and hydrobasaluminite, two new minerals from Northamptonshire. Mineralogical Magazine, 29,1-17.

Kick off for the RASMIM Project

The RASMIM Project has just started this month of July. RASMIM is a research project funded by the European Commision and awarded with a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (IEF) (Call: FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF) for Dr. Patricia Acero in Birkbeck College-University of London (London-UK), under the supervision of Dr. Karen Hudson-Edwards.

The aim of the RASMIM project is to shed light on the dissolution of aluminum sulphates formed under acid mine drainage conditions. The release of Al to soils and waters may have severe effects on ecosystems and humans. Therefore, the RASMIM project will contribute to new mine development and to environmental and human health protection. 

With this goal, dissolution experiments using aluminum sulphates will be carried out. The evolution of solids and solutions during dissolution will be monitored using a wide range of cutting-edge mineralogical and geochemical techniques. These observations will be complemented by the development of atomistic computer simulations for the same processes.

The study will generate important data on the mechanisms, products and controls on the dissolution of Al sulphates. The project will provide a better understanding of the relative roles on dissolution of factors such as mineral structure and impurities, surface area, solution pH, composition and temperature or secondary mineral formation, among others.