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Hydroniumjarosite mineral

Hydroniumjarosite is the hydronium-dominant ferric sulfate hydroxide mineral, ideally (H3O)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6. It is distinct from potassium jarosite, natrojarosite, ammoniojarosite and an industrial jarosite-bearing residue. The September 2026 IMA list records a 1987 redefinition by special procedure; this is not an individual approval accession. Basciano and Peterson (2007) characterized synthetic material and a hydronium-dominant natural sample from Rio Tinto, Spain, using chemical analyses and powder-diffraction refinement. Their natural sample 7-13-2-1 also contained quartz and minor potassium and sodium. It does not represent a pure endmember or a demonstrated microbial product. The study supports specimen-specific identity and laboratory abiotic formation, not isolated iron recovery, long-term contaminant retention, or industrial deployment of the preparation. Constituent-element criticality is not inherited.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Abiotic hydrothermal formation of hydronium-rich jarosite

other

Basciano and Peterson precipitated a hydroniumjarosite preparation from ferric sulfate without added potassium sulfate. The broader potassium- hydronium series initially developed compositional zoning; grinding and further heating in the reaction solution homogenized selected mixed compositions. Powder diffraction and chemical analyses supported the assigned phases. This is reagent-based mineral synthesis, not a microbial experiment or an assay of recovered iron from waste.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Laboratory sample A used 40 g ferric sulfate pentahydrate in 100 mL aqueous starting solution, with no added K2SO4, at 140 degrees C for an initial 48 hours in polypropylene containers inside steel vessels. The potassium-containing series required additional equilibration; the reported 20-day sample-B and 3-day sample-H treatments are not assigned to sample A. Products were washed, filtered and dried at 120 degrees C. Alumina was deliberately added for synthetic-powder diffraction preparation; its presence in the refinement is not evidence of a synthesis impurity. The natural quartz-bearing sample was analyzed separately. No matched biological control or microbial strain was used.
Curated Evidence Points:
Methods on pages 1465-1467, Table 1 sample A, Tables 2-3 and Figures 1-4 support abiotic precipitation and the qualified comparison with potassium-bearing preparations. Figure 3 plots solid yield in grams and sulfur-normalized solution/crystal composition; these are not isolated-element recovery percentages. The natural-sample discussion on page 1472 supports occurrence and identity, not microbial causality.
Full iron occupancy does not imply a completely occupied hydronium site: Table 3 refines sample A's A-site occupancy to 0.92(1). Hydrogen positions within H3O were not directly determined, and the proposed protonation/charge-compensation model remains an interpretation. Table 1's trace K assay is rounded away in its sample-A formula; the natural sample's formula and K-occupancy entries disagree between Tables 1, 3 and 4. Some sulfate/formula tokens in the methods and table heading also conflict. No corrected empirical formula, exact site population, universal endmember composition or executable reconstructed recipe is inferred.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. PDF page 98, Hydroniumjarosite row: ideal formula (H3O)Fe3+3(SO4)2(OH)6; Rd, 1987 special procedure. Complete authority acquired; page 1 status definitions and the species row checked.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-15)
  2. handbook: Handbook of Mineralogy. Hydronium jarosite, version 1, copyright 2001-2005. Complete one-page species entry; natural composition, ideal formula and synthetic diffraction reference are distinct.
    https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/hydroniumjarosite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-15)
  3. basciano2007: Basciano LC and Peterson RC (2007). Jarosite-hydronium jarosite solid-solution series with full iron site occupancy: Mineralogy and crystal chemistry. American Mineralogist 92:1464-1473. DOI 10.2138/am.2007.2432. Complete ten-page original inspected through the public geological repository: methods pages 1465-1467; Tables 1-4; Figures 1-11; natural-sample and site-occupancy limits pages 1471-1472.
    https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2007.2432 (accessed 2026-10-15)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-15T11:38:42.802074+00:00 codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Added hydroniumjarosite as a distinct mineral with qualified laboratory abiotic formation, natural occurrence and explicit source contradictions; no criticality or microbial causality inferred.

Record source: data/records/hydroniumjarosite.yaml