Sanderite

Mg(SO4) · 2H2O
IMA status
  • Approved
  • Grandfathered
IMA symbol
Sdr
Discovered
1952

Where it forms, where it's found

Geological setting

Efflorescence in an evaporite deposit mine.

Type locality
Niedersachsen potash mine
  1. Wathlingen
  2. Celle District
  3. Lower Saxony
  4. Germany

52.5247°, 10.1378°

5recorded occurrences
Source · OpenStreetMap

Physical

Density
2.21 g/cm³

Crystallography

Crystal system
Orthorhombic
Space group
P21 21 21
Cell parameters
a = 8.8932(1) Å · b = 8.4881(1) Å · c = 12.4402(2) Å
Ratio a:b:c
1 : 0.954 : 1.399
Z
8
Type-locality form

Efflorescences on kieserite.

Comment

On synthetic material

Crystal structure

Chemical composition

Constituent elements
Mass composition breakdown
ElementAtoms At. mass g/mol Mass g/molMass share
8OOxygenOxygen615.99995.994
61.38%
16SSulfurSulfur132.06032.060
20.50%
12MgMagnesiumMagnesium124.30524.305
15.54%
1HHydrogenHydrogen41.0084.032
2.58%
Total156.391100.00%

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

From IMA formula

In other languages

French
sandérite
German
Sanderit
Italian
Sanderite

Classification

Strunz
10th ed.

7.CB.07

  • 7SulfatesClass
  • 7.CSulfates (selenates, etc.) without additional anions, with H2ODivision
  • 7.CBWith only medium-sized cationsGroup
  • 7.CB.07SanderiteSpecies
CIM

25.3.2

  • 25SulphatesClass
  • 25.3Sulphates of MgGroup
  • 25.3.2SanderiteSpecies

Literature, links & citation

Citations
  1. 1952Fleischer, M. (1952) New mineral names. American Mineralogist, 37 (11-12). 1070-1074
  2. 1952Berdesinki, W. (1952) Sanderite, leonhardtite, allenite and hexahydrite, new minerals of marine salts deposits. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie-Monatshefte, 28–29.
  3. 1967Kali und Steinsalz 4 (1967): 326.
  4. 2009Ma, H., Bish, D. L., Wang, H.-W., Chipera, S. J. (2009) Determination of the crystal structure of sanderite, MgSO4·2H2O, by X-ray powder diffraction and the charge flipping method. American Mineralogist, 94 (4) 622-625 doi:10.2138/am.2009.3110 DOI: 10.2138/am.2009.3110
  5. 2014Lopez-Reyes, G., Sobron, P., Lefebvre, C., Rull, F. (2014) Multivariate analysis of Raman spectra for the identification of sulfates: Implications for ExoMars. American Mineralogist, 99 (8) 1570-1579 doi:10.2138/am.2014.4724DOI: 10.2138/am.2014.4724
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
  author    = {Mineral Index editorial board},
  title     = {Sanderite — Mineral Index},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/sanderite-3519},
  note      = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}