Highlights—Probertite and glauberite: the most interesting minerals you’ve never heard of….

Compared to their sulfur-rich evaporitic relatives, the origin and significance of sedimentary borates is poorly constrained, yet these deposits can form economic resources. To better understand lacustrine borates, Ortí et al. describe the sedimentology, petrographic characteristics, and stratigraphy of cores from Miocene strata of three exploratory boreholes from Turkey. The results reveal a succession rich in several scales of cyclic alternations of primary (depositional to interstitial) glauberite (Na₂Ca(SO₄)₂) and probertite (NaCaB₅O₇(OH)₄·3H₂O) (yes, those will be on the quiz).  These minerals and their varied textures are interpreted to vary according to lake levels, chemistry, and paleogeographic setting in the paleo-saline lake. The results emphasize the diversity of hydrogeochemistry that can influence lacustrine evaporite depositional systems. 

Sulfate–borate association (glauberite–probertite) in the Emet Basin: implications for evaporite sedimentology (middle Miocene,Turkey) by Federico Ortí, Laura Rosell, Javier García-Veigas, and Cahít Helvaci