Piypite Locality: Great Fissure (Main Fracture) eruption, Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka Oblast', Far-Eastern Region, Russia Green acicular xls of Piypite [possibly klyuchevskite, see http://www.mindat.org/mesg-7-70656.html ], specimen is sealed in a plasticbox. Field of view 5 mm. Depth of field is achieved with CombineZM. Specimen and photo Leon Hupperichs. — Photo: Leon Hupperichs · CC BY-SA 3.0
Piypite
A rare potassium-copper oxysulfate forming hollow square-cross-section needles in fumaroles.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Piypite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the sulfate class, with the chemical formula K₄Cu₄O₂(SO₄)₄·(Na,Cu)Cl.
It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system (space group I4).
Key properties: Mohs hardness 2.5; specific gravity 3–3.1; Yellowish green streak; Vitreous to greasy luster; refractive index 1.64; optically uniaxial.
IMA symbol Piy, IMA status: approved, named in 1982.
A rare fumarolic sublimate, formed above 500 ° C.
It is found associated with Halite, sylvite, langbeinite, tenorite, hematite, tolbachite, dolerophanite, urusovite, aphthitalite, ponomarevite, cotunnite, chalcocyanite, sofiite.
The mineral was named to honor Boris Ivanovich Piyp (1906–1966), Russian vulcanologist, Director of the Far Eastern Institute of Volcanology, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii, Russia.