Sylvite is a mineral that is chemically composed of potassium chloride (KCl). Also known as Sylvine, the crystal is a primary source of potash that is used to manufacture fertilizer products. With the demand of potassium so high, Sylvite is considered highly economical deposits but as a mineral specimen, it does not get the attention it deserves. It occurs as the most significant form of the compounds that contain potassium, and its industrial application is broad. Often, the crystals of this mineral are reddish as a result of hematite content, and they are well-formed. The rate of solubility of Sylvite in water is so high such that the specimens have to be stored in tightly covered containers because even a slight contact with the moisture in the air can degrade the appearance. Potassium chloride is closely related to sodium chloride (NaCl), or the table salt (common salt) such that at times telling them apart is difficult as they share many properties ( Garrett, 2012) . Although, Sylvite has a more bitter taste and a higher rate of solubility in water than Halite.
The chemical compound of this mineral is bonded by the covalent bonds which occur when the outermost electron in the K atom is lost to the Cl atom, and many combinations form a molecule known as the giant ionic structure. Its color ranges depending on the location which it is found and includes colorless, white, light yellow, and red to orange due to Hematite, but its streak is always white. The crystals are octahedron and cubic with unique faces of an octahedron, and at times, it forms a group of cubic crystals that are grainy, compact, fibrous, and massive ( Garrett, 2012) . Upon dissolution, they will often have a cavernous appearance. Sylvite crystals are always transparent to translucent. This mineral is associated with kieserite, anhydrite, gypsum, Halite, and carnallite alongside other evaporative ores. This means it mainly occurs in arid environments. Sylvite exhibits a brittle tenacity in that when hammered, or scratched with a knife; the results are small crumbs or fine powder. It has a perfect cleavage on 1 and an uneven or irregular fracture. On a Mohs scale, the mineral has a hardness of 1.5 to 2 while its measured density is 1.993(5) g/cm3 and calculated 1.987 g/cm3 ( Garrett, 2012) .
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The main rock types where potash occurs are igneous (through the action of volcanism from volcanic fumaroles) and sedimentary (formed by the erosion and deposition of rock materials then cemented together). It can also occur in nitrate beds in deposits found in the caves. Burning coal can yield Sylvite as a product. It can also form part of other minerals where it comes as a result of intermediate-grade metamorphism. The crystal mostly occurs in sedimentary basins where it forms deposits of thick beds that are alternated or mixed with Halite. Such occurrence of sedimentary deposits takes place in Michigan, the United States of America, where potash is mined in large scale. The Michigan basin is a center for the potash mining where it occurs purely as Sylvite or as Sylvinite. The Sylvinite is a mixture of Sylvite (KCl) and Halite (NaCl) and occurs as much as 30 feet thick in the sedimentary rocks. The potash zones are situated at a depth of between 7000 and 9000 feet ( William B. Harrison, III. (2014) and located in all or parts of the seventeen counties in the northern half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan State. Sedimentary rocks are formed when the weathered materials of other stones are deposited in layers.
Also, when these materials or sediments become deposited, and consolidation occurs, they create the rocks. Other formations include precipitation from solution where the solvent evaporates, and then the solute is left to pile into layers. This process is the standard formation of Sylvites, and other halides (minerals resulting from the salt generating elements) and the group is jointly known as evaporites- the crystals form from chemical evaporation of the aqueous solution. Despite the fact that every water on the surface of the earth and the aquifers have dissolved salts, for the minerals to precipitate, there must be enough temperature to evaporate the water. For this to happen, the water body must enter a limited situation where water flow to this condition stays underneath the net evaporation rate. This is typically an arid condition having a small basin supplied by a constrained amount of water. At the point when evaporation happens, the rest of the water is enriched in salts, and they precipitate upon supersaturating of the water. The common minerals that form through sedimentation are shale, clay, chalk, sandstone, and limestone and the occurrence takes 75 percent of the surface of the earth. In the sedimentary rocks, Sylvite may occur as homogenous beds that are alternated with the Halite minerals. Another formation is that the two halides can coexist within the same bed intermixed to form Sylvinite. During probing, the two can be differentiated due to the higher solubility of Sylvite.
Sylvite is a poor conductor of electricity when in a crystalline nature as with any solid salt. This mineral has many industrial uses with the most common one as the source of potash to manufacture fertilizer products ( Garrett, 2012) . Also, potassium chloride is used in the recycling of aluminum, as oil drilling fluids, and in electroplating of metals. Due to its good light properties, it is used alongside quarts to manufacture optical lenses. Sylvite can also be used in the medical field to yield supplements that are used to cure or prevent low potassium conditions in the body such as hypokalemia.
Reference
Garrett, D. E. (2012). Potash: deposits, processing, properties and uses . Springer Science & Business Media.
William B. Harrison, III. (2014). Occurrence of Potash-Bearing Strata (Sylvinite) in the Salina A-1 Evaporite in the Central Michigan Basin. Adapted from oral presentation given at AAPG 43nd Eastern Section Meeting, London, Ontario, Canada, September 27-30, 2014
