| Veatchite | |
| Category: | Phylloborates |
| Formula: | Sr2B11O16(OH)5 · H2O |
| Imasymbol: | Vea[1] |
| Strunz: | 6.EC.15 |
| System: | Monoclinic |
| Class: | Domatic (m) (same H-M symbol) |
| Symmetry: | Aa |
| Unit Cell: | a = 20.81 Å, b = 11.74 Å c = 6.63 Å; β = 92.03°; Z = 8 |
| Color: | Colorless to white |
| Habit: | Flattened platey to prismatic crystals, diverging fibrous clusters and cross fiber veinlets |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on, indistinct on |
| Mohs: | 2 |
| Luster: | Vitreous to pearly |
| Diaphaneity: | Transparent to translucent |
| Gravity: | 2.62 |
| Opticalprop: | Biaxial (+) |
| Refractive: | nα = 1.551 nβ = 1.553 nγ = 1.620 |
| Birefringence: | δ = 0.069 |
| 2V: | Measured: 37° |
| References: | [2] [3] [4] |
Veatchite is an unusual strontium borate, with the chemical formula Sr2B11O16(OH)5·H2O. There are two known polytypes, veatchite-A and veatchite-p.[5]
Veatchite was discovered in 1938, at the Sterling Borax mine in Tick Canyon, Los Angeles County, California. Veatchite is named to honor John Veatch, the first person to detect boron in the mineral waters of California.