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Anhydrite

Cave Name:

Diana Cave, Romania

Speleothems:

  • Crystals, crusts, earth masses (formed on a fragment of wood present in the cave)

Frequency: Extremely Rare

Other geologic settings:

  • in evaporite deposits as a major component; in hydrothermal mineral deposit as an alteration mineral

Other occurrence:

  • coatings, crusts (Ruatapu Cave,New Zealand; a cave in Big Bend, Texas, USA; Arnhem Cave, Namibia)

  • powder (caves of Kahf al Mihnah, United Arab Emirates)

  • helictites (up to 10 cm long and 0.3 cm wide)(Liquid Crystal Cave, Israel)

  • small, white to blue crystals (Valea Rea Cave, Romania)

First description of cave occurrence:

  • Diaconu, G. 1974. Quelques considérations sur la présence de l'anhydrite dans la grotte "Pestera Diana" (Baile Herculane-Roumanie). Travaux de l'Institute de Spéologie "Emile Racovitza"  XIII: 191-194

First description of non-cave occurrence:

  • Ludwig, C.F. 1804. A. G. Werners Mineral - System, Erste Klasse Erdige Fossilien, VI. Kalk - Geschlecht. Handbuch der Mineralogie nach A. G. Werner Volume 2 (Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius Leipzig): 209-212

Other cave locations & References:

  • Ruatapu Cave, New Zealand - Cody, A.D. 1978. Ruatapu Cave. New Zealand Speleological Bulletin 6(108): 184-187

  • a cave from Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA: - Hill, C.A. 1979. Recent anhydrite and bassanite in Big Bend National Park caves. National Speleological Society Bulletin 42(4): 126-127

  • Arnhem Cave, Namibia;

  • Stanton's Cave (Grand Canyon-USA)

  • Valea Rea Cave, Romania - Onac, B.P., Bengeanu, M., Botez, M. & Zeh, J. 1995. Preliminary report on the mineralogy of Valea Rea Cave (Bihor Mountains, Romania). Theoretical and Applied Karstology 8: 75-79

Conservation and Protection:

  • Anhydrite samples need to be preserved in dry environments.

Length: 8

Altitude: 154

Water: Yes (thermal)

Type of rock:

  • Limestone/Marls

Age: Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous

Cave climate type: Permanent bidirectional

Cave temperature (°C): 22

Cave humidity (%): 100

IMA status: Approved

Group: Sulfates

Chemical formula:
[According to the official IMA-CNMNC List of Mineral Names (http://nrmima.nrm.se/imalist.htm)]

CaSO4

Crystal system:
  • Orthorhombic
Common crystallographic forms:

  • Prisms
Repository:

  • "Emil Racovita" Institute of Speleology, Bucharest, Romania

General info:

Cited in Cave Minerals of the World:
[Hill, C.A. & Forti, P. 1997. Cave Minerals of the World (2nd ed.). National Speleological Society Huntsville, AL, 464 pp.]

  • Yes, page 199-200



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    Cave_mineral_ | by Dr. Radut