One of Earth's rarest minerals, Humboldtine, was discovered thanks to a 75-year-old letter.
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| A piece of Humboldtine, perhaps of Earth's most extraordinary mineral, has been found in Germany with the assistance of a letter going back 75 years. By: The Bavarian State Office for the Climate/Kemner |
The mineral, which forms on fracture surfaces in coal deposits, is a rare authigenic organic mineral that occurs when carbon and iron react with water, creating a lemon-yellow to yellow-amber mass that rarely contains crystals. Humboldtine has only been found in 30 localities worldwide, including in Germany, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
The discovery of Humboldtine was made possible by a letter written by a coal mine owner in 1949, which mentioned the mineral.
The letter was found during a survey conducted by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU). The head of the geological service at the site, Roland Eichorn, said that the team was skeptical at first because the mineral had only been found in the form of tiny crystals. However, when they ran tests in their laboratory, the crystal structure was "clearly confirmed" using X-ray technology.
The yellow mineral was discovered in 1949 about 8 feet deep within brown coal near Schwandorf, a town in eastern Bavaria along the river Naab.
The reason for the formation of the yellow nodules in the Schwandorf brown coal is still unknown. This discovery has doubled the amount of Humboldtine known to exist, making it an even more valuable and rare find.
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