Kernite

<h2 id="occurrence-and-history">Occurrence and history</h2>
<p>The mineral occurs in sedimentary <a href="/facts/Evaporite/vNW8fcEy">evaporite</a> deposits in arid regions.
</p><p>Kernite was discovered in 1926 in eastern <a href="/facts/Kern_County%2c_California/RCXbHVtK">Kern County</a>, in <a href="/facts/Southern_California/1CaAWjd2">Southern California</a>, and later renamed after the county. The location was the <a href="/facts/Pacific_Coast_Borax_Company/oGH8UCxn">US Borax Mine</a> at <a href="/facts/Boron%2c_California/Uv1HhkLU">Boron</a> in the western <a href="/facts/Mojave_Desert/qWmTVQLg">Mojave Desert</a>. This <a href="/facts/Type_specimen_(mineralogy)/XMYf2tSg">type material</a> is stored at <a href="/facts/Harvard_University/Lhy9L1cx">Harvard University</a>, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the <a href="/facts/National_Museum_of_Natural_History/nn6mUbfE">National Museum of Natural History</a>, Washington, D.C.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p><p>The Kern County mine was the only known source of the mineral for a period of time. More recently, kernite is mined in <a href="/facts/Argentina/aFSA5bAk">Argentina</a> and <a href="/facts/Turkey/KIYAWAs0">Turkey</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
</p><p>The largest documented, single crystal of kernite measured 2.44 x 0.9 x 0.9 m3 and weighed ~3.8 tons.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h2 id="uses">Uses</h2>
<p>Kernite is used to produce <a href="/facts/Borax/IQrXRJ3N">borax</a> which can be used in a variety of <a href="/facts/Soap/S3nJa1oY">soaps</a>.
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<p> Media related to Kernite at Wikimedia Commons
</p>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Handbook of Mineralogy <a href="http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/kernite.pdf" target="_blank">http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/kernite.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Handbook of Mineralogy <a href="http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/kernite.pdf" target="_blank">http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/kernite.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Handbook of Mineralogy <a href="http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/kernite.pdf" target="_blank">http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/kernite.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>P. C. Rickwood (1981). "The largest crystals" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 66: 885–907. <a href="http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM66/AM66_885.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM66/AM66_885.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Kernite open-in-new

Kernite