Paulscherrerite

(UO2)(OH)2
IMA status
  • Approved
IMA symbol
Psc
IMA approved
2008
Also known as
  • Dehydrated schoepite
  • IMA2008-022
  • Paulscherreriet

Where it forms, where it's found

Type locality
Mount Painter No. 2 workings
  1. Mount Painter area
  2. Arkaroola (Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary
  3. Arkaroola Station)
  4. Pastoral Unincorporated Area
  5. South Australia
  6. Australia

-30.2208°, 139.3322°

3recorded occurrences
Source · OpenStreetMap

Radioactivity

Physical

Colour
canary yellow
Streak
canary yellow
Density
6.66 g/cm³

Crystallography

Crystal system
Monoclinic
Cell parameters
a = 4.281 Å · b = 10.230 Å · c = 6.865 Å
Cell angles
β = 90.35 °
Ratio a:b:c
1 : 2.390 : 1.604
Type-locality form

Powdery, pseudomorphs. intimately admixed with significant amounts of metaschoepite

Comment

pseudo-orthorhombic

Chemical composition

Constituent elements
Mass composition breakdown
ElementAtoms At. mass g/mol Mass g/molMass share
92UUraniumUranium1238.029238.029
78.29%
8OOxygenOxygen415.99963.996
21.05%
1HHydrogenHydrogen21.0082.016
0.66%
Total304.041100.00%

Mass share = atoms × atomic mass ÷ molar mass × 100

From IMA formula

Synonyms

  • Dehydrated schoepite
  • IMA2008-022
  • Paulscherreriet

In other languages

German
IMA 2008-022 · Paulscherrerit
Italian
paulscherrerite

Classification

Strunz
10th ed.

4.GA.20

  • 4OxidesClass
  • 4.GUranyl HydroxidesDivision
  • 4.GAWithout additional cationsGroup
  • 4.GA.20PaulscherreriteSpecies
Dana
8th ed.

05.02.02

  • 05Oxides Containing Uranium or ThoriumClass
  • 05.02AXO3·xH2OType
  • 05.02.02— unnamed intermediate level —Group
  • 05.02.02PaulscherreriteSpecies

Group, growth & confusion

In the same group
2 members

Literature, links & citation

Citations
  1. 1997Finch, Robert J., Hawthorne, Frank C., Miller, M. L., Ewing, R. C. (1997) Distinguishing among schoepite, [(UO2)8O2(OH)12](H2O)12, and related minerals by X-ray powder diffraction. Powder Diffraction, 12 (4) 230-238 doi:10.1017/s0885715600009799DOI: 10.1017/s0885715600009799
  2. 1998Finch, R.J., Hawthorne, F.C. and Ewing, R.C. (1998): Structural relations among schoepite, metaschoepite and "dehydrated schoepite". Canadian Mineralogist 36, 831-845.
  3. 1999Sowder, A. G., Clark, S. B., Fjeld, R. A. (1999) The Transformation of Uranyl Oxide Hydrates:  The Effect of Dehydration on Synthetic Metaschoepite and Its Alteration to Becquerelite. Environmental Science & Technology, 33 (20). 3552-3557 doi:10.1021/es9901516DOI: 10.1021/es9901516
  4. 2011Brugger, J., Meisser, N., Etschmann, B., Ansermet, S., Pring, A. (2011) Paulscherrerite from the Number 2 Workings, Mount Painter Inlier, Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia: "Dehydrated schoepite" is a mineral after all. American Mineralogist, 96 (2) 229-240 doi:10.2138/am.2011.3601DOI: 10.2138/am.2011.3601
  5. 2021(2021) Paulscherrerite. Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
  author    = {Mineral Index editorial board},
  title     = {Paulscherrerite — Mineral Index},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/paulscherrerite-38700},
  note      = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}