Image: Wikimedia Commons

polyhalite

Sulfate mineral

Instance of: mineral species
1
Sources
1.Stated in The IMA List of Minerals (November 2018)
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Subclass of: sulfate mineral

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Polyhalite is an evaporite mineral, a hydrated sulfate of potassium, calcium and magnesium with formula: K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4·2H2O. Polyhalite crystallizes in the triclinic system, although crystals are very rare. The normal habit is massive to fibrous. It is typically colorless, white to gray, although it may be brick red due to iron oxide inclusions. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 and a specific gravity of 2.8. It is used as a valuable fertilizer.

Overview

All data

26 statements · 46% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009): 7.CC.65
1
Sources
1.Stated in mineralienatlas.de
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update): 7.CC.65
1
Sources
1.Stated in MinDat
View statement on Wikidata ↗
IMA status and/or rank: grandfathered mineral (G)
1
Sources
1.Stated in IMA/CNMNC List of Mineral Names (March 2007)
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Type locality (geology): Ischler Salzberg
1
Sources
1.Stated in mineralienatlas.de
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Streak color: white
Crystal system: triclinic crystal system
Named after: poly- language: Ancient Greek
1
Sources
1.Stated in A Dictionary of the Names of Minerals
View statement on Wikidata ↗
salt language: Ancient Greek · object named as: ἅλς "hals"
1
Sources
1.Stated in A Dictionary of the Names of Minerals
View statement on Wikidata ↗
IMA Mineral Symbol: Plhl
1
Sources
1.Stated in IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Formula: K₂Ca₂Mg(SO₄)₄·2H₂O
Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated): VI/C.14
1
Sources
1.Stated in Mineralogische Tabellen : Eine Klassifizierung der Mineralien auf kristallchemischer Grundlage, mit einer Einfuhrung in die Kristallchemie (1982)
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Mohs' hardness: 3.5

On other databases

14 identifiers linking polyhalite across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

46%

externally sourced

Source last edited September 2, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

Suggest a fact or correction

Links

Use this data

curl https://aidb.si/api/v1/entities/Q425034

API docs, limits & keys

Cite this page

AIDB. (2026). polyhalite (Q425034). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/polyhalite-Q425034