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Kurnakovite
Posted by Rock Currier
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Kurnakovite July 01, 2009 02:57AM |
Click here to view Best Minerals K and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.
Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?
Kurnakovite
Mg(H4B3O7)(OH) ยท 5H2O triclinic
Kurnakovite is a relatively rare borate mineral and is found at fewer than 10 localities thus far. It is dimoprhous with Inderite. Crystals of more than 30 cm have been found, and crystal clusters can exceed 50 cm. These well crystallized specimens are exclusively from the borate deposit at Boron, California and the specimens found at other localities are poor second cousins. The mineral was first described by the Russians from the Inder deposit in Kazakhstan.
[Rock Currier 2009]
Kurnakovite
Kazakhstan
Atyrau Oblysy (Atyrau Oblast'), Atyrau (Gur'yev), Inder B deposit and salt dome
From the single picture we have of a specimen from Kazakhstan, the material looks to be earthy and massive. We need someone to tell us about the borates from the Inder locality in Kazakhstan.
Kurnakovite
USA
California, Kern Co., Kramer District, Boron, U.S. Borax Open Pit Mine
The Kurnakovite crystals from the borate deposit at Boron, were almost all found during the early days of the open pit mine when they switched over from underground to open cast. They were found in a fault zone near the west end of the deposit. Many of the Kurnakovite crystals were found growing in the distinctively colored blue/gray/tan mud of the deposit and almost always associated with little intergrown fibrous knobs of Ulexite that are commonly stained to a greater or lesser extent by the mud from the deposit. When these were encountered hundreds of crystals were collected. Even ten years after the fact I was able to buy more than 100 crystals in a bag from a miner that had never been cleaned. Sometimes the crystals of Kurnakovite were more than a foot in diameter and clusters of these crystals of more than a half meter are known. The crystals for the most part are blocky with some few being tabular. Very rarely they were associated with Inderite crystals. Some pocket material with free standing crystals were found, but these pockets were never very big. Since the original discovery, in the 50s, no more specimens of Kurnakovite have been made. When specimens of Kurnakovite are transported from the dry clean desert air of the Boron area, down into the polluted air of Los Angels, it is typical for the specimen to develop a white coating starting on the edges of the crystals and then white spots appear on the crystal faces and finally a thin white coating will develop to coat the entire specimen like seen in picture #3. The crystals that remain in the clean dry air of Boron are rarely affected with this problem. It is commonly ascribed to a dehydration process, but I believe that in the polluted air of big cities that the Kurnakovite is reacting with some of the containments in the air. This coating can be largely removed by soaking the specimen briefly in water. Other than this, Kurnakovite and Inderite are stable and do not fall apart like the sodium borate minerals found at Boron. These large crystals of Kurnakovite are quite heat sensitive and if you put in in water that is warmer or colder than the crystal, you will crack it. Take it from one who has done just that. Probably fewer than 1000 specimens of all kinds were collected.
[Rock Currier 2009]
Click here to view Best Minerals K and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.
Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2012 10:34AM by Rock Currier.
Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?
Kurnakovite
Mg(H4B3O7)(OH) ยท 5H2O triclinic
Kurnakovite is a relatively rare borate mineral and is found at fewer than 10 localities thus far. It is dimoprhous with Inderite. Crystals of more than 30 cm have been found, and crystal clusters can exceed 50 cm. These well crystallized specimens are exclusively from the borate deposit at Boron, California and the specimens found at other localities are poor second cousins. The mineral was first described by the Russians from the Inder deposit in Kazakhstan.
[Rock Currier 2009]
Kurnakovite
Kazakhstan
Atyrau Oblysy (Atyrau Oblast'), Atyrau (Gur'yev), Inder B deposit and salt dome
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| 2.Kurnakovite, 2.8cm wide | © Peter Kohorst |
From the single picture we have of a specimen from Kazakhstan, the material looks to be earthy and massive. We need someone to tell us about the borates from the Inder locality in Kazakhstan.
Kurnakovite
USA
California, Kern Co., Kramer District, Boron, U.S. Borax Open Pit Mine
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| 4.Kurnakovite crystals. | © Caltech |
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| 6.Kurnakovite ~12 cm tall | © Rob Lavinsky |
The Kurnakovite crystals from the borate deposit at Boron, were almost all found during the early days of the open pit mine when they switched over from underground to open cast. They were found in a fault zone near the west end of the deposit. Many of the Kurnakovite crystals were found growing in the distinctively colored blue/gray/tan mud of the deposit and almost always associated with little intergrown fibrous knobs of Ulexite that are commonly stained to a greater or lesser extent by the mud from the deposit. When these were encountered hundreds of crystals were collected. Even ten years after the fact I was able to buy more than 100 crystals in a bag from a miner that had never been cleaned. Sometimes the crystals of Kurnakovite were more than a foot in diameter and clusters of these crystals of more than a half meter are known. The crystals for the most part are blocky with some few being tabular. Very rarely they were associated with Inderite crystals. Some pocket material with free standing crystals were found, but these pockets were never very big. Since the original discovery, in the 50s, no more specimens of Kurnakovite have been made. When specimens of Kurnakovite are transported from the dry clean desert air of the Boron area, down into the polluted air of Los Angels, it is typical for the specimen to develop a white coating starting on the edges of the crystals and then white spots appear on the crystal faces and finally a thin white coating will develop to coat the entire specimen like seen in picture #3. The crystals that remain in the clean dry air of Boron are rarely affected with this problem. It is commonly ascribed to a dehydration process, but I believe that in the polluted air of big cities that the Kurnakovite is reacting with some of the containments in the air. This coating can be largely removed by soaking the specimen briefly in water. Other than this, Kurnakovite and Inderite are stable and do not fall apart like the sodium borate minerals found at Boron. These large crystals of Kurnakovite are quite heat sensitive and if you put in in water that is warmer or colder than the crystal, you will crack it. Take it from one who has done just that. Probably fewer than 1000 specimens of all kinds were collected.
[Rock Currier 2009]
Click here to view Best Minerals K and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.
Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2012 10:34AM by Rock Currier.
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Re: Kurnakovite July 01, 2009 03:56AM |
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