Sylvite
Species
Common · KCl
Potassium chloride laid down late in the evaporation of a sea, after most of the halite it resembles, and mined as the chief source of potash. Its taste is salty with a bitter edge that halite lacks.
Identity
- Formula
- KCl
- Chemical class
- Halide
- Also known as
- Sylvine
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Cubic
- Habits
- Cubic, Granular, Massive
- Fracture
- Uneven
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 2
- Density
- 1.99 g/cm³
- Luster
- Vitreous
- Colors
- white, yellowish white, reddish white, bluish white, brownish white
- Streak
- white
- Transparency
- Transparent
Geology
- Origins
- Sedimentary
- Host rocks
- Salt beds
- Associated minerals
- Halite, Gypsum, Anhydrite
- Found in
- Rock salt, Evaporite deposit
- Geography
- Germany, Canada, Russia
Classification
- Rarity
- Common
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- M. Pasero and others, IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, The New IMA List of Minerals, updated September 2026. International Mineralogical Association (CNMNC), 2026.
- Sylvite. Mindat.org (Hudson Institute of Mineralogy).
- J. W. Anthony, R. A. Bideaux, K. W. Bladh, M. C. Nichols, Sylvite. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Sylvine (minéral). Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre.
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