Springwood Salt Lake is located west of the Silver City Highway, approximately 100 km north of Wentworth, NSW, Australia. It occupies a depression, about 10 km x 6 km in size, which appears to have once been a large lake but now consists of a number of small salinas. In mid 1981 crystals of mirabilite were collected from small depressions, the imprints left by cattle tracks, in two of these salinas, at the eastern end of the depression. Small roughly equi-dimensional and rarely perfect crystals, from 2 to 5 cm across, lined the bottoms of the depressions. In most of the depressions these were overlain by larger tabular (paper-thin and typically 12mm x 9mm) and prismatic (up to 40 mm long and 2 mm to 3 mm across) crystals. On exposure to weak sunlight the mirabilite readily dehydrated to powdery thenardite.

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Strunz Dana Chemical Elements

Mineral List

ⓘ Gypsum

✪ Mirabilite

ⓘ 'Thénardite'

2 valid minerals.

Detailed Mineral List:

ⓘ Gypsum

Formula: CaSO₄ · 2H₂O

Reference: P. Sutton (1982) Mirabilite from south-western N.S.W, The Australian Mineralogist. 37: 200

✪ Mirabilite

Formula: Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O

Reference: P. Sutton (1982) Mirabilite from south-western N.S.W, The Australian Mineralogist.37: 200. P. Sutton (2004) Minerals from evaporative basins in the Mallee District, Murray Basin, south-eastern Australia. 10:1, 13-28

ⓘ 'Thénardite'

Formula: Na₂SO₄

Reference: P. Sutton (2004) Minerals from evaporative basins in the Mallee District, Murray Basin, south-eastern Australia

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates
ⓘ	Gypsum	7.CD.40	CaSO₄ · 2H₂O
ⓘ	Mirabilite	7.CD.10	Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O
ⓘ	'Thénardite'	7.AC.25	Na₂SO₄

List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification

Group 28 - ANHYDROUS ACID AND NORMAL SULFATES
A₂XO₄
ⓘ	'Thénardite'	28.2.3.1	Na₂SO₄
Group 29 - HYDRATED ACID AND NORMAL SULFATES
A₂XO₄·xH₂O
ⓘ	Mirabilite	29.2.2.1	Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O
AXO₄·xH₂O
ⓘ	Gypsum	29.6.3.1	CaSO₄ · 2H₂O

List of minerals for each chemical element

H	Hydrogen
H	ⓘ Mirabilite	Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O
H	ⓘ Gypsum	CaSO₄ · 2H₂O
O	Oxygen
O	ⓘ Mirabilite	Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O
O	ⓘ Thénardite	Na₂SO₄
O	ⓘ Gypsum	CaSO₄ · 2H₂O
Na	Sodium
Na	ⓘ Mirabilite	Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O
Na	ⓘ Thénardite	Na₂SO₄
S	Sulfur
S	ⓘ Mirabilite	Na₂SO₄ · 10H₂O
S	ⓘ Thénardite	Na₂SO₄
S	ⓘ Gypsum	CaSO₄ · 2H₂O
Ca	Calcium
Ca	ⓘ Gypsum	CaSO₄ · 2H₂O

References

Sort by

Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)

Sutton, P. (1982) Mirabilite from south-western N.S.W. The Australian Mineralogist, 37, 200.

Sutton, P. (2004) Minerals from evaporative basins in the Mallee District, Murray Basin, south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Mineralogy, 10(1), 13-28.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

Australia

Berri BasinBasin
Delamerian OrogenOrogen
Murray BasinBasin

Australian PlateTectonic Plate

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Springwood Salt Lake, Tara Co., New South Wales, AustraliaiRegional Level TypesSpringwood Salt LakeLake Tara Co.County New South WalesState AustraliaCountry function showexplain() { $("#locexplain").toggle(); if (typeof movemap === "function") movemap(); }