4.4" Fluorescent/Phosphorescent Hanksite Cluster - Trona, California

Fluorescent/Phosphorescent Hanksite Cluster - Trona, California #354568

This is a beautiful 4.4" long cluster of hanksite crystals, collected from Searles Lake in Trona, California. Following exposure to shortwave UV light, this mineral displays a relatively long-lasting phosphorescence.

Comes with an acrylic display stand.

Please note - This is a water-soluble evaporite mineral and when exposed to moisture over time, the crystal(s) can undergo dehydration and degradation. To prevent this, keeping the specimen in a low-humidity environment and periodically coating with mineral oil, baby oil, or petroleum jelly will help keep this from occurring. This specimen has not been coated yet.

Hanksite is a sulphate mineral with the chemical formula Na22K(SO4)9(CO3)2Cl. It is unique as a sulphate since it contains both sulphate and carbonate ion groups, one of only a few of its kind. It forms in evaporate deposits as a product of the evaporation of water from Lake Searles in Trona, California. Once water evaporates from this lake bed and shores, the remaining concentrated minerals form crystals. Typically halite is the first crystal to form, but in more unusual cases, borax, sulphohalite, and hanksite can form when the mineral concentration is exceptional.

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