Atacamite

Atacamite is a copper halide mineral: a copper(II) chloride hydroxide with formula Cu₂Cl(OH)₃. It was first described for deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile in 1802 by Dmitri de Gallitzin.<ref name="Mindat" /> The Atacama Desert is also the namesake of the mineral.

OccurrenceEdit

Atacamite is polymorphous with botallackite, clinoatacamite, and paratacamite.<ref name="Mindat" /> Atacamite is a comparatively rare mineral, formed from primary copper minerals in the oxidation or weathering zone of arid climates. It has also been reported as a volcanic sublimate from fumarole deposits, as sulfide alteration products in black smokers.<ref name="HBM" /> The mineral has also been found naturally on oxidized copper deposits in Chile, China, Russia, Czech Republic, Arizona, and Australia.<ref name=":0" /> It occurs in association with cuprite, brochantite, linarite, caledonite, malachite, chrysocolla and its polymorphs.<ref name="HBM" />

Atacamite has been discovered in the patina of the Statue of Liberty, and as alteration of ancient bronze and copper artifacts. The bronze of the Antikythera mechanism had turned to atacamite under the sea.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The mineral has been found as a pigment in sculpture, manuscripts, maps, and frescoes discovered in Eurasia, Russia, and Persia.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Atacamite occurs as a biomineral in the jaws of bloodworms.<ref name="Lichtenegger">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Stucky2003">Template:Cite journal</ref>

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Atacamite prisms from Chile
Harvard Museum of Natural History. Atacamite. Miraflores Mine, Tierra Amarilla, Atacama, Chile (DerHexer) 2012-07-20.jpg

Atacamite from Chile displayed in the Harvard Museum of Natural History
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Atacamite from Mt. Gunson, South Australia