Hekla volcano in Iceland that has erupted in January 1991, made to the scientists a real gift – a new mineral called Topsøeite, reports Videnskab.dk.
The new mineral was discovered by the geologist Sveinn Peter Jakobsson who researched the volcano half a year after the eruption. In 1991, the geologist set out to study some of the cracks in the lava and noted the unknown mineral from the Topsøe family.
Twenty-six years ago, Topsøeite was born inside the cracks where temperatures reached 170 degrees Celsius with the help of the toxic gases were oozing out from Hekla volcano. But only in 2017, over decades, Jakobsson’s investigations have led researchers to conclude that the volcanic material contained previously unknown minerals.
Scientific journal about nine new minerals from volcanoes
Topsøeite is described in the latest issue of Mineralogical Magazine in the article by Tonci Balic-Zunic, Associate Professor in mineralogy and crystallography at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
The article noticed that Topsøeite wasn’t the only new-discovered mineral, since 2009, the geology got 9 previously unknown minerals fro Iceland volcanoes Hekla and Eldfell.
“There are some special geological processes in the volcanoes, and that means that there are some unique minerals here that you don’t see anywhere else,”
says Balic-Zunic and added that for a substance to be recognised as a mineral, it cannot just be created in a laboratory.
