Shortite
Shortite is a sodium-calcium carbonate mineral, with the chemical formula Na2Ca2(CO3)3. It was discovered by J. J. Fahey in well cuttings from the Green River Formation, Sweetwater County, Wyoming, US, and was named to honor Maxwell N. Short (1889–1952), Professor of Mineralogy, University of Arizona.
Shortite is associated with commercial trona ores, and some care must be taken when beneficiating crude trona to avoid contamination with shortite.
| Chemical Formula: | Na2Ca2(CO3)3 |
| Sodium Calcium Carbonate | |
| Molecular Weight: | 306.16 gm |
| Composition: | Sodium | 15.02 % | Na | 20.24 % | Na2O |
| Calcium | 26.18 % | Ca | 36.63 % | CaO | |
| Carbon | 11.77 % | C | 43.12 % | CO2 | |
| Oxygen | 47.03 % | O | |||
| 100.00 % | 100.00 % | = TOTAL OXIDE |
| Crystallography: | Orthorhombic – Pyramidal |
| Crystal Habit: | Crystals are typically wedge-shaped, tabular to short prismatic, to 3 cm, striated. |
| Twinning: | None |
| Cleavage: | Distinct on {010} |
| Fracture: | Conchoidal |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Hardness (Mohs): | 3.0 – 4.5 |
| Density: | 2.600 – 2.629 (g/cm3) |
| Luminescence: | Pale amber fluorescence under SW UV |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioacitve |
| Other: | Strongly Pyroelectric. Water Soluble; decomposed by water with separation of CaCO3. |
| Color: | Colorless, light Yellow, dark Yellow, light Green |
| Transparency: | Transparent |
| Luster: | Vitreous |
| Refractive Index: | 1.531 – 1.570 Biaxial ( – ) |
| Birefringence: | 0.0390 |
| Dispersion: | Moderate; r < v |
| Pleochroism: | X = colorless, Y = colorless, Z = colorless |
