Artinite mineral
Artinite is the hydrated basic magnesium carbonate mineral Mg2(CO3)(OH)2(H2O)3, conventionally Mg2(CO3)(OH)2·3H2O. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1902; that year is not an approval identifier. Artinite is distinct from dypingite, hydromagnesite, nesquehonite, magnesium metal and mixed carbonate binders. The curated evidence is laboratory abiotic dissolution and precipitation, without inherited constituent criticality or a demonstrated microbial recovery mechanism.
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (2)
Dissolution and persistence of natural artinite in water
other
Natural artinite released dissolved magnesium and inorganic carbon during sealed water equilibration while artinite remained the dominant detected solid after three and twelve months. Minor brucite or hydrous carbonate-containing brucite was also detected. Persistence under these conditions is not a claim of universal thermodynamic stability or a pure-phase recovered product.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Lothenbach et al. separated acicular crystals from a San Benito County, California specimen and hand-ground the material. In the undersaturation arm, duplicate samples contained 1.00 g natural artinite and 49.5 mL Milli-Q water in 50 mL polyethylene bottles, closed and additionally sealed with Parafilm. Bottles were shaken for one minute before storage and subsequently shaken daily on workdays; the daily shaking duration was not reported. Storage was at 7, 15, 20 or 25 degrees C, each within 1 degree C. Two series supplied aqueous samples after one/six months and liquid plus solid analyses after three/twelve months. Recovered solids were dried overnight at 40 degrees C and ground below 63 micrometres for analysis. This was a non-inoculated chemical study, not a microbial-versus-sterile comparison.
Lothenbach et al. separated acicular crystals from a San Benito County, California specimen and hand-ground the material. In the undersaturation arm, duplicate samples contained 1.00 g natural artinite and 49.5 mL Milli-Q water in 50 mL polyethylene bottles, closed and additionally sealed with Parafilm. Bottles were shaken for one minute before storage and subsequently shaken daily on workdays; the daily shaking duration was not reported. Storage was at 7, 15, 20 or 25 degrees C, each within 1 degree C. Two series supplied aqueous samples after one/six months and liquid plus solid analyses after three/twelve months. Recovered solids were dried overnight at 40 degrees C and ground below 63 micrometres for analysis. This was a non-inoculated chemical study, not a microbial-versus-sterile comparison.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
lothenbach2026
Sections 2.1-2.2 and 3.1-3.2, Table 3 and Figures 3-5 support natural-material characterization and the distinct undersaturation experiment. Dissolved Mg and carbonate were assayed by ion chromatography; pH was measured at 22-24 degrees C and recalculated to the storage temperatures. Activities and solubility products were calculated using GEMS and aqueous thermodynamic data, not directly measured rates or extraction yields.
Support
Source:
lothenbach2026_si
Figures S1-S8 show XRD, TGA, FTIR and Raman comparisons after three and twelve months, supporting persistent artinite with minor brucite/HCB features. Table S1 explicitly distinguishes observed solid identities from calculated saturation indices; modeled hydromagnesite supersaturation does not mean hydromagnesite was observed in this water arm.
Partial
Source:
lothenbach2026
The abstract and Section 3.2 use high-purity or only-artinite language, but Figure 3a and Section 3.1 acknowledge probable giorgiosite, brucite, chloromagnesite and an unidentified minor reflection in the starting material; Section 3.2 and Table 3 identify trace brucite/HCB after equilibration. No pure starting phase, full mass balance or quantitative artinite phase fraction is inferred. Reported solid stability refers to the sampled intervals and ex situ prepared specimens.
Artinite as an intermediate in abiotic magnesium-carbonate precipitation
other
In a separate concentrated magnesium/carbonate experiment, artinite was a transient member of mixed precipitates whose phase assemblage changed with temperature and time. At 25 degrees C, artinite with hydromagnesite was reported after three months, whereas the twelve-month assemblage was hydromagnesite with brucite/HCB and no reported artinite. The lower-temperature results retain artinite together with hydromagnesite after twelve months.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Section 2.3 specifies nominal initial 0.84 M total Mg and 0.42 M carbonate from 0.42 M each MgO, MgCl2 and Na2CO3, with 46 mL water added to solids in a 50 mL polyethylene bottle to reach 50 mL final volume. Results and figure captions round these concentrations to 0.8 and 0.4 M. Closed Parafilm-sealed bottles were shaken for one minute before storage and subsequently shaken daily on workdays; the daily shaking duration was not reported. Storage was at 7, 15, 20 or 25 degrees C, within 1 degree C. Aqueous sampling was at one, three, six and twelve months; solid analyses were at three and twelve months after overnight drying at 40 degrees C. The explicit duplicate design of the natural-artinite arm is not assumed for this synthesis arm.
Section 2.3 specifies nominal initial 0.84 M total Mg and 0.42 M carbonate from 0.42 M each MgO, MgCl2 and Na2CO3, with 46 mL water added to solids in a 50 mL polyethylene bottle to reach 50 mL final volume. Results and figure captions round these concentrations to 0.8 and 0.4 M. Closed Parafilm-sealed bottles were shaken for one minute before storage and subsequently shaken daily on workdays; the daily shaking duration was not reported. Storage was at 7, 15, 20 or 25 degrees C, within 1 degree C. Aqueous sampling was at one, three, six and twelve months; solid analyses were at three and twelve months after overnight drying at 40 degrees C. The explicit duplicate design of the natural-artinite arm is not assumed for this synthesis arm.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
lothenbach2026
Section 3.3, Figure 6 and Table 5 distinguish the assemblages: at three months the 7 and 15 degrees C rows list dypingite, the 20 degrees C row lists dypingite plus artinite, and the 25 degrees C row lists artinite plus hydromagnesite. At twelve months the 7-20 degrees C rows list artinite plus hydromagnesite, while the 25 degrees C row lists hydromagnesite plus brucite. The accompanying text also discusses trace HCB. This preserves the 20 degrees C artinite observation rather than reducing all lower-temperature products to dypingite alone.
Support
Source:
lothenbach2026_si
Figures S9-S14 provide thermal, FTIR and Raman characterization of the mixed three- and twelve-month solids. Table S2 corroborates the source-defined phase rows and separates calculated saturation from detection; Figure S15 shows evolving calculated artinite ion-activity products. Neither aqueous depletion nor phase peak intensity is converted into a recovery percentage.
Partial
Source:
lothenbach2026_si
The lowest-temperature Raman traces in Figures S13-S14 are labeled 5 degrees C, while their captions, the experimental methods, main Figure 6 and Table S2 specify 7 degrees C. The introduction also says 5 degrees C where the methods say 7. The record retains the methods-defined 7 degrees C arm without silently relabeling the Raman traces. The 25 degrees C S14 trace includes an A label at the carbonate band despite Table S2 omitting artinite in that twelve-month assemblage; absence here means no artinite in the reported phase table, not a proven zero concentration or independently resolved detection limit.
Partial
Source:
lothenbach2026
Sections 3.3-3.4 interpret the sequence through slow dissolution/reprecipitation and thermodynamic stability, but no direct in situ molecular pathway or continuous phase-conversion kinetics was measured. Water and concentrated-salt arms differ in starting material and solution chemistry, so they do not isolate a single causal variable. Figures 7-10 are calculated comparisons using experimental inputs and selected thermodynamic data; the evolving oversaturation solutions were not treated as equilibrium artinite-solubility measurements. No microbes, commodity production or industrial deployment was tested.
Sources & References
-
ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. Definitions pages 1-2 and Artinite row PDF page 16: Mg2(CO3)(OH)2(H2O)3, G, 1902. Previously acquired official original re-inspected 14 October 2026.
https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-14) -
handbook_artinite: Handbook of Mineralogy, Artinite, version 1, 2001-2005. Formula, monoclinic identity and altered-ultramafic-rock occurrence.
https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/artinite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-14) -
lothenbach2026: Lothenbach, B.; Montserrat-Torres, P.; Schreiner, C.; Winnefeld, F. (2026). Solubility of Artinite. Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology 24(4):174-190. DOI 10.3151/jact.24.174. Complete 17-page original; Sections 2.1-2.4, 3.1-3.4, Tables 1-6 and Figures 1-10.
https://doi.org/10.3151/jact.24.174 (accessed 2026-10-14) -
lothenbach2026_si: Lothenbach et al. (2026), Solubility of artinite, publisher Supplementary Materials, 18 pages. Undersaturation Figures S1-S8; oversaturation Figures S9-S14; calculated Tables S1-S2 and Figures S15-S16.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jact/24/4/24_174/_supplement/_download/24_174_1.pdf (accessed 2026-10-14)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-14T13:59:27.138491+00:00 |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | CREATE | Created artinite identity and separately bounded abiotic water-dissolution and concentrated precipitation evidence, retaining source phase/temperature-label uncertainty. |
2026-10-14T14:08:24.930768+00:00 |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | EDIT | Corrected both artinite contexts for review issue 236; one-minute shaking applies only before storage, while daily workday shaking duration was not reported. |
Record source: data/records/artinite.yaml