Where it forms, where it's found
- Geological setting
Lacustrine clay sediments.
- Type locality
- Searles Lake
- San Bernardino County
- California
- USA
35.7383°, -117.3739°
36recorded occurrences
Physical
Optical
- Optical type
- Isotropic
- Birefringence
- Anomalous birefringence exhibited at times and distributed in sectors.
PPL intrinsic colour; no change on stage rotation
XPL extinct at every orientation
Crystallography
- Space group
- #200
- Cell parameters
- a = 13.98 Å
- Morphology
Crystals octahedral.
- Type-locality form
Octahedral crystals embedded in clay.
Crystal structure
Chemical composition
Synonyms
- Northupiet
In other languages
- French
- Northupite
- German
- Northupit
- Italian
- Northupite
Classification
Strunz
10th ed.5.BF.05
- 5CarbonatesClass
- 5.BCarbonates with additional anions, without H2ODivision
- 5.BFWith (Cl), SO4, PO4, TeO3Group
- 5.BF.05NorthupiteSpecies
Dana
8th ed.16a.03.09.01
- 16aAnhydrous Carbonates Containing Hydroxyl or HalogenClass
- 16a.03(AB)2(XO3)ZqType
- 16a.03.09— unnamed intermediate level —Group
- 16a.03.09.01NorthupiteSpecies
CIM
—12.1.1
- 12Carbonates with other anionsClass
- 12.1Carbonates with halidesGroup
- 12.1.1NorthupiteSpecies
Group, growth & confusion
Literature, links & citation
Citations
- 1895Foote, W.M. (1895) Preliminary note on a new alkali mineral. American Journal of Science, 150, 480-481.
- 1896Pratt, Joseph Hyde (1896), On northupite; pirssonite, a new mineral; Gaylussite and hanksite from Borax Lake, San Bernardino County, California: American Journal of Science, 4th. series: 2: 123-135; …Zeitschr. Kristallographie, Band 27: 416-429 (1896); …(abstract): Neues Jahrb., Band 2: 451-455 (1897).
- 1906de Schulten (1906) Bulletin de la Société française de Minéralogie: 19: 164.
- 1906de Schulten (1906) Comptes rendus de l’Académie des sciences de Paris: 143: 403.
- 1931Shiba and Watanabé (1931) Comptes rendus de l’Académie des sciences de Paris: 193: 1421.
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
author = {Mineral Index editorial board},
title = {Northupite — Mineral Index},
year = {2026},
url = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/northupite-2935},
note = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}