Geologic Features
Gypsum is a hydrated calcium sulphate. It is frequently associated with minor quantities of anhydrite, which is calcium sulphate without water, and under the proper natural conditions either of these materials may be changed into the other.
Common impurities in gypsum deposits include clay and lime carbonate, and also magnesia, silica, and iron oxide. In the material as extracted, impurities may range from a trace to about 25 per cent. Gypsite, or gypsum dirt, is an impure mixture of gypsum with clay or sand found in Kansas and some of the western states; it is believed to have been produced in the soil or in shallow lakes, by spring waters carrying calcium sulphate which was leached from gypsum deposits or from other rocks.
Gypsum deposits, like deposits of common salt, occur in beds which are the result of evaporation of salt water. Calcium makes up a small percentage of the dissolved material in the sea, and when sea waters are about 37 per cent evaporated it begins to be precipitated as calcium sulphate. Conditions for precipitation are especially favorable in arid climates, in arms of the sea or in enclosed basins which may or may not once have been connected with the sea. Simultaneously with the deposition of gypsum, there may be occasional inwashings of clay and sand, and with slight changes of conditions organic materials of a limey nature may be deposited. Further evaporation of the waters may result in the deposition of common salt. Thus gypsum beds are found interbedded with shales, sandstones, and limestones, and frequently, but not always, they are associated with salt beds. The nature of these processes is further discussed under the heading of salt (pp. 295-298).
The anhydrite found in gypsum deposits is formed both by direct precipitation from salt water and by subsequent alteration of the gypsum. The latter process involves a reduction of volume, and consequently a shrinkage and settling of the sediments. The hydration of anhydrite to form gypsum, on the other hand, involves an increase of volume and may result in the doming up and shattering of the overlying sediments.
Gypsum is fairly soluble in ground-water, and sink-holes and solution cavities are often developed in gypsum deposits. These may allow the inwash of surface dirt and also may interfere with the mining.
All the important commercial gypsum deposits are believed to have been formed by evaporation of salt water in the manner indicated. Small quantities of gypsum are formed also when pyrite and other sulphides oxidize to sulphuric acid and this acid acts on limestone. Thus gypsum is found in the oxide zones of some ore bodies. These occurrences are of no commercial significance.
MICA
Economic Features
The principal use of sheet mica is for insulating purposes in the manufacture of a large variety of electrical equipment. The highest grades are employed particularly in making condensers for magnetos of automobile and airplane engines and for radio equipment, and in the manufacture of spark plugs for high tension gas engines. Sheet mica is also used in considerable amounts for glazing, for heat insulation, and as phonograph diaphragms. Ground mica is used in pipe and boiler coverings, as an insulator, in patent roofing, and for lubricating and decorative purposes.