{"id":374060,"date":"2026-10-19T14:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T08:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=374060"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T08:41:38","slug":"melanterite-and-gypsum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/melanterite-and-gypsum\/","title":{"rendered":"Melanterite and Gypsum"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Researchers identified two hydrous sulphate minerals, melanterite and gypsum, at sites in Tamil Nadu and Chile that resemble Martian environments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Melanterite<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 359px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumb.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/c\/cd\/Melanterite-784855.jpg\/960px-Melanterite-784855.jpg?resize=359%2C299&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Melanterite \" width=\"359\" height=\"299\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Wikimedia Common<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Melanterite<\/strong> is a <strong>hydrated iron sulphate.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is <strong>formed <\/strong>through the<strong> oxidative weathering and decomposition of primary iron sulfide minerals,<\/strong> most commonly <strong>pyrite (FeS\u2082)<\/strong> or its unstable <strong>polymorph marcasite<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is often<strong> found in mines as a post-mining formation on mine walls.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Properties:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Colour:<\/strong> It is <strong>colorless<\/strong> to <strong>white or green<\/strong>, also <strong>greenish-blue to blue<\/strong> with <strong>increased copper content<\/strong> and <strong>colourless to pale green in transmitted light.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Melanterite has <strong>conchoidal fracture <\/strong>and displays<strong> cleavage in two directions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It is<strong> highly soluble in water.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Formula:<\/strong> Fe<sup>2+<\/sup>(H<sub>2<\/sub>O)<sub>6<\/sub>(SO<sub>4<\/sub>) \u00b7 H<sub>2<\/sub>O<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recent findings: <\/strong>Melanterite has been detected in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu.\n<ul>\n<li>It forms unde<strong>r temporary wet, acidic and oxidising conditions<\/strong> and <strong>provides evidence of short-lived water activity relevant to understanding Mars\u2019 geological history<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Gypsum<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 325px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/0\/04\/Gypsum-209991.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&amp;utm_campaign=index&amp;utm_content=original\" alt=\"Gypsum\" width=\"325\" height=\"306\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gypsum<\/strong> is a <strong>common sulfate mineral.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is <strong>found in large beds along with other evaporite minerals,<\/strong> especially in Permian and Triassic sedimentary formations.\n<ul>\n<li>It is also<strong> found in salt pans and saline lakes<\/strong> and<strong> is a key part of cap rock on salt domes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Properties:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Forms:<\/strong> It appears in <strong>various forms, including selenite (well-developed crystals), satin spar (fibrous, silky, and opalescent), alabaster (fine-grained and massive), and gypsite (earthy and pulverulent).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Composition: <\/strong><strong>It\u00a0 is composed of hydrated calcium sulfate.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Colour:<\/strong> It is<strong> colourless to white,<\/strong> often tinged other hues due to impurities and<strong> colourless in transmitted light.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Formulae: <\/strong>CaSO\u2084\u00b72H\u2082O<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Applications:<\/strong> It is used as a<strong> fluxing agent, fertilizer, filler, and retarder in portland cement<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>When<strong> calcined, it becomes plaster of Paris,<\/strong> used in building materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leading Producers:<\/strong> Its deposits occur in many countries, but <strong>Spain, Thailand, the United States, Turkey, and Russia are among the leading producers.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Recent findings:<\/strong> Gypsum is <strong>one of the two hydrous sulphate minerals<\/strong> identified in the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/atacama-desert\/\"><strong>Atacama Desert<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0in <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/key-facts-about-chile\/\">Chile<\/a> and the Tiruchirappalli Badlands, a semi-arid geological and palaeoclimatic region in Tamil Nadu.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It <strong>records past water activity and can preserve potential biosignatures within its mineral structure,<\/strong> making it significant for astrobiological investigations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Researchers identified two hydrous sulphate minerals, melanterite and gypsum, at sites in Tamil Nadu and Chile that resemble Martian environments. About Melanterite Melanterite is a hydrated iron sulphate. It is formed through the oxidative weathering and decomposition of primary iron sulfide minerals, most commonly pyrite (FeS\u2082) or its unstable polymorph marcasite. It is often&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/melanterite-and-gypsum\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Melanterite and Gypsum<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039],"tags":[11872,11853],"class_list":["post-374060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-dd-news","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}