Skipton Cave (lavatube), Victoria, Australia
Speleothems:
Frequency: Rare
Other geologic settings: typically formed in bird or bat guano in caves and surface deposits. In peaty earth intermixed with cattle dung (Hamburg, Germany)
Other occurrence: as constituent of a crust (Temple of Doom Cave, Namibia) as wall efflorescence, with well formed prismatic crystals (Gâuab Aas Cave, Namibia)
First description of cave occurrence: MacIvor, R.W.E. 1887. On Australian bat guano and some minerals occurring therein. The Chemical News 55: 215-216
First description of non-cave occurrence: Ulex, G.L. 1847. Struvit. Öfversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar: 32-33
Other cave locations & References: seven Transvaal, South African caves (as Ficus and Boon’s Caves) Temple of a Doom Cave, Gâuab Aas Cave and another cave, Namibia Gcwihaba Cave, Botswana Niah Great Cave, Sarawak, Malaysia
Conservation and Protection: when exposed to the air for a long time, it dehydrates to newberrite
Longitude: 143°20'52''E
Water: No
Type of rock: basalt
Group: Phosphates
Chemical formula: (NH4)Mg(PO4) · 6H2O
[According to the official IMA-CNMNC List of Mineral Names (http://nrmima.nrm.se/imalist.htm)]
Deposition and stability: derived from basalt which supplies the magnesium, and from bat guano, which provides the ammonium and phosphate
Color: white-grey
P2O5 28.82; FeO 0.81; MnO 0.16; MgO 16.07; (NH4)2O 10.57; H2O 43.57
Mineral assemblage: + newberryte, hannayite (Skipton Cave, Australia) + urea, biphosphammite (Temple of Doom Cave, Namibia) + swaknoite (Gâuab Aas Cave, Namibia)
- Orthorhombic