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⇱ The mineralogy of Hydrogen

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The mineralogy of Hydrogen

About Hydrogen
The lightest and simplest element which makes up around 80% of the visible universe. Hydrogen consists of a single proton orbited by a single electron. The isotopes Deuterium and Tritium have one and two additional neutrons respectively in addition.
General Properties
Symbol:H
Atomic Number:1
Standard atomic weight (Ar):1.00794(4)
Electron configuration:1s1
Photos
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Vial of glowing ultrapure hydrogen
>
Atomic Properties
Electronegativity (Pauling scale):2.2
Atomic Radius:53 pm
Van der Waals Radius:120 pm
1st Ionization energy:1312 kJ/mol
1st Electron affinity:-73 kJ/mol
Oxidation States:-1,1
Physical Properties
Standard State:gas
Bonding Type:diatomic
Melting Point:14 K
Boiling Point:20 K
Density:8.99E-005 g/cm3
Metal/Non-Metal:nonmetal
Main isotopes of Hydrogen
Isotope% in NatureHalf LifeDecay typeDecay product
1H99.9885%stable
2H0.0115%stable
3Htrace12.32yβ−3He
Main ions of Hydrogen
NameIonExample minerals
hydrogenH+Ice
ammoniumNH4+Salammoniac, Cryptohalite
hydrideH-
hydroxideOH-Brucite, Gibbsite, Goethite, Manganite
Videos
Other Information
Year Discovered:1766
Discovered By:
Named For:Greek: hydrogen - "water-former"
CPK color coding:#FFFFFF
External Links:WikipediaWebElementsLos Alamos National LaboratoryTheodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com
Simple Compounds and Mineral Names
NitridesammoniaNH3+1
hydrazineH2NNH2+1
Sulfideshydrogen persulphideH2S2+1
hydrogen sulphideH2S+1
Selenideshydrogen selenideH2Se+1
Tellurideshydrogen tellurideH2Te+1
HydroxideswaterH2O+1Ice
Fluorideshydrogen fluorideHF+1
Chlorideshydrogen chlorideHCl+1
Bromideshydrogen bromideHBr+1
Iodideshydrogen iodideHI+1
OxideswaterH2O+1Ice
Carbonatescarbonic acidH2CO3+1
Nitratesnitric acidHNO3+1
Sulfatessulfuric acidH2SO4+1
Mineral Diversity of Hydrogen
1. Elements 1 valid mineral species
2. Sulfides And Sulfosalts 21 valid mineral species
3. Halides130 valid mineral species
4. Oxides 390 valid mineral species
5. Carbonates 201 valid mineral species
6. Borates119 valid mineral species
7. Sulfates 496 valid mineral species
8. Phosphates, Arsenates, Vanadates920 valid mineral species
9. Silicates 1021 valid mineral species
10. Organic Compounds80 valid mineral species
Total:3379 valid species containing essential Hydrogen
Minerals with the greatest weight % of Hydrogen
EvenkiteC21H4414.95 %
DiniteC20H3613.12 %
FichteliteC19H3413.06 %
BranchiteC20H3412.49 %
FlagstaffiteC10H22O311.65 %
Cubo-iceH2O11.19 %
IceH2O11.19 %
RefikiteC20H32O210.59 %
SimonelliteC19H249.58 %
AcetamideCH3CONH28.53 %
Geochemistry of Hydrogen
Goldschmidt classification:Atmophile
H+ is commonly concentrated in residual soils and sediments.
Elemental Hydrogen in Nature
Found as native element:HydrogenH2
Elemental Abundance for Hydrogen
Crust (CRC Handbook)1.40 x 10-3mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Greenwood)1.520 x 10-3mass fraction, kg/kg
Sea Water (CRC Handbook)1.08 x 10-1mass per volume fraction, kg/L
Sea Water (Kaye & Laby)1.1 x 10-1mass per volume fraction, kg/L
Atmosphere (NASA)1.79ppmas CH4
The Sun (Kaye & Laby)2.8 x 104atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Kaye & Laby)2.8 x 104atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Ahrens)2.79 x 104atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty)
Element association of Hydrogen in the Mineral World
This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Hydrogen and the other elements listed based on the official IMA formula. Note that unlike other sections on this page this includes non-essential elements.

The first data column contains the total number of minerals listed with Hydrogen and the element listed for that row.

The second data column lists this number as a percentage of all minerals listed with Hydrogen.

The final data column compares this percentage against the percentage of all minerals that contain the element listed in each row.

Click on a heading to sort.
ElementValid Minerals listed with element and Hydrogen% of H mineralsRelative to % in all minerals
Oxygen3436 minerals with H and O99.31%22.36% higher
Silicon1110 minerals with H and Si32.08%16.23% higher
Calcium1057 minerals with H and Ca30.55%22.71% higher
Aluminium946 minerals with H and Al27.34%37.26% higher
Iron816 minerals with H and Fe23.58%4.99% higher
Sodium759 minerals with H and Na21.94%17.44% higher
Magnesium579 minerals with H and Mg16.73%25.35% higher
Sulfur574 minerals with H and S16.59%24.75% lower
Phosphorus565 minerals with H and P16.33%32.73% higher
Manganese497 minerals with H and Mn14.36%23.21% higher
Arsenic422 minerals with H and As12.20%6.03% lower
Potassium390 minerals with H and K11.27%12.90% higher
Copper387 minerals with H and Cu11.18%17.61% lower
Carbon369 minerals with H and C10.66%30.37% higher
Uranium289 minerals with H and U8.35%63.11% higher
Lead267 minerals with H and Pb7.72%28.48% lower
Chlorine260 minerals with H and Cl7.51%1.67% higher
Zinc249 minerals with H and Zn7.20%28.05% higher
Fluorine234 minerals with H and F6.76%14.29% lower
Boron214 minerals with H and B6.18%22.71% higher
Titanium210 minerals with H and Ti6.07%13.55% lower
Vanadium198 minerals with H and V5.72%18.85% higher
Barium170 minerals with H and Ba4.91%5.58% higher
Nitrogen145 minerals with H and N4.19%64.71% higher
Strontium115 minerals with H and Sr3.32%17.27% higher
Niobium107 minerals with H and Nb3.09%0.55% higher
Cerium106 minerals with H and Ce3.06%0.91% lower
Zirconium85 minerals with H and Zr2.46%1.71% higher
Beryllium77 minerals with H and Be2.23%3.13% higher
Yttrium77 minerals with H and Y2.23%4.03% lower
Nickel73 minerals with H and Ni2.11%38.20% lower
Lithium67 minerals with H and Li1.94%2.23% lower
Molybdenum59 minerals with H and Mo1.71%8.05% higher
Tellurium56 minerals with H and Te1.62%54.52% lower
Chromium50 minerals with H and Cr1.45%21.97% lower
Bismuth44 minerals with H and Bi1.27%69.74% lower
Lanthanum44 minerals with H and La1.27%7.09% lower
Cobalt42 minerals with H and Co1.21%2.10% lower
Antimony41 minerals with H and Sb1.18%79.09% lower
Selenium34 minerals with H and Se0.98%63.24% lower
Neodymium32 minerals with H and Nd0.92%8.37% higher
Tungsten29 minerals with H and W0.84%7.06% lower
Tin28 minerals with H and Sn0.81%55.92% lower
Thorium26 minerals with H and Th0.75%13.82% higher
Caesium17 minerals with H and Cs0.49%7.54% lower
Iodine14 minerals with H and I0.40%23.86% lower
Germanium13 minerals with H and Ge0.38%45.74% lower
Cadmium13 minerals with H and Cd0.38%31.38% lower
Tantalum13 minerals with H and Ta0.38%67.59% lower
Mercury13 minerals with H and Hg0.38%78.98% lower
Scandium11 minerals with H and Sc0.32%26.88% lower
Thallium7 minerals with H and Tl0.20%86.49% lower
Bromine6 minerals with H and Br0.17%36.65% lower
Gallium5 minerals with H and Ga0.14%0.29% lower
Samarium5 minerals with H and Sm0.14%49.57% higher
Silver4 minerals with H and Ag0.12%97.03% lower
Gadolinium4 minerals with H and Gd0.12%19.65% higher
Dysprosium3 minerals with H and Dy0.09%79.48% higher
Ytterbium3 minerals with H and Yb0.09%10.26% lower
Indium2 minerals with H and In0.06%78.88% lower
Erbium1 mineral with H and Er0.03%79.48% higher
Rubidium1 mineral with H and Rb0.03%64.10% lower
Periodic Table
1H 2He
3Li 4Be 5B 6C 7N 8O 9F 10Ne
11Na 12Mg 13Al 14Si 15P 16S 17Cl 18Ar
19K 20Ca 21Sc 22Ti 23V 24Cr 25Mn 26Fe 27Co 28Ni 29Cu 30Zn 31Ga 32Ge 33As 34Se 35Br 36Kr
37Rb 38Sr 39Y 40Zr 41Nb 42Mo 43Tc 44Ru 45Rh 46Pd 47Ag 48Cd 49In 50Sn 51Sb 52Te 53I 54Xe
55Cs 56Ba 57La 72Hf 73Ta 74W 75Re 76Os 77Ir 78Pt 79Au 80Hg 81Tl 82Pb 83Bi 84Po 85At 86Rn
87Fr 88Ra 89Ac 104Rd 105Db 106Sg 107Bh 108Hs 109Mt 110Ds 111Rg 112Cn 113Nh 114Fl 115Mc 116Lv 117Ts 118Og
58Ce 59Pr 60Nd 61Pm 62Sm 63Eu 64Gd 65Tb 66Dy 67Ho 68Er 69Tm 70Yb 71Lu
90Th 91Pa 92U 93Np 94Pu 95Am 96Cm 97Bk 98Cf 99Es 100Fm 101Md 102No 103Lr
Default Categories CPK Electronegativity Atomic Radius Lowest Oxidation Highest Oxidation Crustal Abundance Goldschmidt Mineral Species Minerals with H Relative Frequency
Hydrogen >> Helium


Most widespread minerals containing Hydrogen
This list of minerals containing Hydrogen is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Hydrogen mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.
NameFormulaCrystal SystemMindat Localities
MuscoviteKAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2Monoclinic22998
MalachiteCu2(CO3)(OH)2Monoclinic15097
Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)Monoclinic11018
GoethiteFe3+O(OH)Orthorhombic9808
GypsumCaSO4 · 2H2OMonoclinic8926
KaoliniteAl2(Si2O5)(OH)4Triclinic7144
AzuriteCu3(CO3)2(OH)2Monoclinic6604
Actinolite◻Ca2(Mg4.5-2.5Fe0.5-2.5)Si8O22(OH)2Monoclinic4692
TalcMg3Si4O10(OH)2Triclinic4284
ChrysocollaCu2-xAlx(H2-xSi2O5)(OH)4 · nH2O, x < 1Orthorhombic4267
Photos

Localities with greatest number of different Hydrogen mineral species
1Clara Mine, Oberwolfach, Ortenaukreis, Freiburg Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany275 H minerals
2Poudrette quarry (De-Mix quarry; Demix quarry; Uni-Mix quarry; Carrière Mont Saint-Hilaire; MSH), Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada246 H minerals
3Tsumeb Mine (Ongopolo Mine), Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region, Namibia192 H minerals
4Jáchymov, Karlovy Vary District, Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic171 H minerals
5Sterling Mine, Sterling Hill, Ogdensburg, Sussex County, New Jersey, USA142 H minerals
6Hagendorf South Pegmatite, Hagendorf, Waidhaus, Neustadt an der Waldnaab District, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany142 H minerals
7Hilarion Mine, Kamariza Mines (Kamareza Mines), Agios Konstantinos (Kamariza), Lavreotiki, East Attica, Attica, Greece139 H minerals
8Cap Garonne Mine, Le Pradet, Toulon, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France133 H minerals


Significant minerals containing Hydrogen
Hydrogen is present in many minerals, most commonly as hydroxyl or as water (hydrate), but the most significant mineral for hydrogen is ice.
NameFormulaCrystal System
IceH2OHexagonal
Photos


Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.

Constants and physical property data from:

Lide, David R. - Ed. (2005) CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data (85th ed.). CRC Press.
National Physical Laboratory (2005) Kaye and Laby Online (discontinued). https://web.archive.org/web/20190506031327/http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/
Kaye, G. W. C.; Laby, T. H. (n.d.) Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants and some Mathematical Functions. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Greenwood, N.N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997) Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann.
Ahrens, Thomas J. - Ed. (1995) Global Earth Physics - A Handbook of Physical Constants - AGU Reference Shelf No. 1. American Geophysical Union.
Railsback, L. Bruce (2003) An earth scientist's periodic table of the elements and their ions. Geology, 31 (9) 737 doi:10.1130/g19542.1
Emsley, John (2001) Nature's Building Blocks - An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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