VOOZH about

URL: https://www.mindat.org/element/Magnesium

⇱ The mineralogy of Magnesium

👁 Image
Now Featuring: The Bruce Carter Collection at Heritage Auctions, Live May 16th
Log InRegister
AboutSupport UsPhotosDiscussionsSearchLearnMore

The mineralogy of Magnesium

General Properties
Symbol:Mg
Commodity pages:Magnesium
Atomic Number:12
Standard atomic weight (Ar):24.3050(6)
Electron configuration:[Ne] 3s2
Photos
<
Crystalised magnesium
>
Atomic Properties
Electronegativity (Pauling scale):1.31
Atomic Radius:145 pm
Ionic Radius:72 pm (+2)
Van der Waals Radius:173 pm
1st Ionization energy:738 kJ/mol
Oxidation States:1,2
Physical Properties
Standard State:solid
Bonding Type:metallic
Melting Point:923 K
Boiling Point:1363 K
Density:1.74 g/cm3
Metal/Non-Metal:alkaline earth metal
Main isotopes of Magnesium
Isotope% in NatureHalf LifeDecay typeDecay product
24Mg78.99%stable
25Mg10.00%stable
26Mg11.01%stable
Main ions of Magnesium
NameIonExample minerals
magnesiumMg2+Magnesite, Dolomite
Other Information
Year Discovered:1755
Discovered By:
Year Isolated:1808
Isolated By:
Named For:
👁 06749440017362166129995.jpg
after Magnesia, Greece
CPK color coding:#8AFF00
External Links:WikipediaWebElementsLos Alamos National LaboratoryTheodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com
Simple Compounds and Mineral Names
Nitridestrimagnesium dinitrideMg3N2+2
Sulfidesmagnesium sulphideMgS+2
Selenidesmagnesium selenideMgSe+2
Telluridesmagnesium tellurideMgTe+2
Hydridesmagnesium dihydrideMgH2+2
Hydroxidesmagnesium hydroxideMg(OH)2+2
Fluoridesmagnesium difluorideMgF2+2Sellaite
Chloridesmagnesium dichlorideMgCl2+2
Iodidesmagnesium diiodideMgI2+2
Oxidesmagnesium oxideMgO+2Periclase
magnesium peroxideMgO2+2
Carbonatesmagnesium carbonateMgCO3+2Magnesite
Sulfatesmagnesium sulfateMgSO4+2
magnesium sulfate tetrahydrateMgSO4 · 4H2O+2Cranswickite, Starkeyite
magnesium sulfate pentahydrateMgSO4 · 5H2O+2Pentahydrite
magnesium sulfate hexahydrateMgSO4 · 6H2O+2Hexahydrite
magnesium sulfate heptahydrateMgSO4 · 7H2O+2Epsomite
magnesium sulfate undecahydrateMgSO4 · 11H2O+2Meridianiite
Mineral Diversity of Magnesium
2. Sulfides And Sulfosalts 7 valid mineral species
3. Halides24 valid mineral species
4. Oxides 74 valid mineral species
5. Carbonates 43 valid mineral species
6. Borates61 valid mineral species
7. Sulfates 71 valid mineral species
8. Phosphates, Arsenates, Vanadates164 valid mineral species
9. Silicates 269 valid mineral species
10. Organic Compounds7 valid mineral species
Total:720 valid species containing essential Magnesium
Minerals with the greatest weight % of Magnesium
PericlaseMgO60.30 %
Tegengrenite(Mn3+0.5Sb5+0.5)Mg2O443.17 %
NiningeriteMgS43.12 %
BruciteMg(OH)241.68 %
HydroxylboriteMg3(BO3)(OH)339.90 %
Warwickite(Mg,Ti,Fe,Al)2O(BO3)39.39 %
Pertsevite-(OH)Mg2(BO3)(OH)39.07 %
SellaiteMgF239.01 %
FluoboriteMg3(BO3)(F,OH)338.64 %
Pertsevite-(F)Mg2(BO3)(F,OH)38.45 %
Geochemistry of Magnesium
Goldschmidt classification:Lithophile
Mg2+ was one of the ions least depleted from the mantle in the formation of the crust.
Mg2+ enters early-forming phases in igneous rocks.
Mg2+ is one of the eight most abundant solutes in average river water.
Mg2+ solute can be a limiting nutrient in the growth of bacteria.
Mg2+ solute is a macronutrient on land.
Mg2+ is essential to nutrition of at least some vertebrates ('essential minerals').
Elemental Abundance for Magnesium
Crust (CRC Handbook)2.33 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Kaye & Laby)2.8 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Greenwood)2.7640 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)3.20 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Wänke)2.37 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Weaver)1.69 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Upper Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)1.33 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Upper Crust (Ahrens/Shaw)1.35 x 10-2mass fraction, kg/kg
Sea Water (CRC Handbook)1.29 x 10-3mass per volume fraction, kg/L
Sea Water (Kaye & Laby)1.3 x 10-3mass per volume fraction, kg/L
The Sun (Kaye & Laby)1.0 x 100atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Kaye & Laby)1.1 x 100atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Ahrens)1.074 x 100 (3.8%)atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty)
Element association of Magnesium in the Mineral World
This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Magnesium 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 Magnesium and the element listed for that row.

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

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 Magnesium% of Mg mineralsRelative to % in all minerals
Oxygen820 minerals with Mg and O98.91%21.88% higher
Hydrogen579 minerals with Mg and H69.84%25.35% higher
Silicon333 minerals with Mg and Si40.17%45.54% higher
Aluminium290 minerals with Mg and Al34.98%75.62% higher
Calcium262 minerals with Mg and Ca31.60%26.95% higher
Iron249 minerals with Mg and Fe30.04%33.71% higher
Sodium227 minerals with Mg and Na27.38%46.59% higher
Phosphorus132 minerals with Mg and P15.92%29.42% higher
Manganese119 minerals with Mg and Mn14.35%23.12% higher
Potassium100 minerals with Mg and K12.06%20.82% higher
Fluorine99 minerals with Mg and F11.94%51.35% higher
Boron98 minerals with Mg and B11.82%134.54% higher
Sulfur83 minerals with Mg and S10.01%54.58% lower
Carbon73 minerals with Mg and C8.81%7.65% higher
Arsenic73 minerals with Mg and As8.81%32.15% lower
Titanium60 minerals with Mg and Ti7.24%3.09% higher
Chlorine48 minerals with Mg and Cl5.79%21.66% lower
Zinc41 minerals with Mg and Zn4.95%12.00% lower
Vanadium40 minerals with Mg and V4.83%0.21% higher
Barium37 minerals with Mg and Ba4.46%4.10% lower
Copper32 minerals with Mg and Cu3.86%71.56% lower
Uranium28 minerals with Mg and U3.38%34.04% lower
Chromium26 minerals with Mg and Cr3.14%69.36% higher
Cerium21 minerals with Mg and Ce2.53%18.07% lower
Lithium19 minerals with Mg and Li2.29%15.71% higher
Strontium19 minerals with Mg and Sr2.29%19.13% lower
Beryllium17 minerals with Mg and Be2.05%4.97% lower
Nitrogen15 minerals with Mg and N1.81%28.88% lower
Niobium13 minerals with Mg and Nb1.57%49.01% lower
Lead12 minerals with Mg and Pb1.45%86.58% lower
Nickel9 minerals with Mg and Ni1.09%68.20% lower
Zirconium9 minerals with Mg and Zr1.09%55.05% lower
Antimony9 minerals with Mg and Sb1.09%80.85% lower
Tellurium9 minerals with Mg and Te1.09%69.49% lower
Molybdenum8 minerals with Mg and Mo0.97%38.85% lower
Tin7 minerals with Mg and Sn0.84%54.00% lower
Tungsten7 minerals with Mg and W0.84%6.36% lower
Lanthanum6 minerals with Mg and La0.72%47.12% lower
Scandium5 minerals with Mg and Sc0.60%38.72% higher
Yttrium5 minerals with Mg and Y0.60%73.99% lower
Cobalt3 minerals with Mg and Co0.36%70.81% lower
Iodine3 minerals with Mg and I0.36%31.90% lower
Caesium2 minerals with Mg and Cs0.24%54.60% lower
Selenium2 minerals with Mg and Se0.24%90.97% lower
Tantalum2 minerals with Mg and Ta0.24%79.19% lower
Mercury1 mineral with Mg and Hg0.12%93.25% lower
Bismuth1 mineral with Mg and Bi0.12%97.13% lower
Neodymium1 mineral with Mg and Nd0.12%85.87% 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 Mg Relative Frequency
Sodium << Magnesium >> Aluminium


Most widespread minerals containing Magnesium
This list of minerals containing Magnesium 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 Magnesium mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.
NameFormulaCrystal SystemMindat Localities
DolomiteCaMg(CO3)2Trigonal12664
DiopsideCaMgSi2O6Monoclinic5814
Actinolite◻Ca2(Mg4.5-2.5Fe0.5-2.5)Si8O22(OH)2Monoclinic4692
TalcMg3Si4O10(OH)2Triclinic4284
Tremolite◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2Monoclinic3433
PhlogopiteKMg3(AlSi3O10)(OH)2Monoclinic3422
Augite(CaxMgyFez)(Mgy1Fez1)Si2O6Monoclinic3154
SpinelMgAl2O4Isometric2764
ClinochloreMg5Al(AlSi3O10)(OH)8Monoclinic2422
MagnesiteMgCO3Trigonal1935
Photos

Localities with greatest number of different Magnesium mineral species
1Långban Mine, Långban Ore District, Filipstad, Värmland County, Sweden59 Mg minerals
2Arsenatnaya fumarole, Second scoria cone, Northern Breakthrough (North Breach), Great Fissure eruption (Main Fracture), Tolbachik Volcanic field, Milkovsky District, Kamchatka Krai, Russia51 Mg minerals
3Kovdor Massif, Kovdorsky District, Murmansk Oblast, Russia50 Mg minerals
4Caspar quarry, Ettringen, Vordereifel, Mayen-Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany43 Mg minerals
5Sterling Mine, Sterling Hill, Ogdensburg, Sussex County, New Jersey, USA41 Mg minerals
6Poudrette quarry (De-Mix quarry; Demix quarry; Uni-Mix quarry; Carrière Mont Saint-Hilaire; MSH), Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada40 Mg minerals
7Udachnaya open-pit mine (Udachnaya-Vostochnaya pipe; Udachnaya pipe), Daldyn, Mirninsky District, Sakha, Russia40 Mg minerals
Sakha, Russia39 Mg minerals


Important industrial minerals containing Magnesium
NameFormulaCrystal System
DolomiteCaMg(CO3)2Trigonal
MagnesiteMgCO3Trigonal
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.
Mindat.org® is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Mindat® and mindat.org® are registered trademarks of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844. doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 4, 2026 07:14:41
Go to top of page