Editing Ulexite (section)

== Morphology ==

Ulexite commonly forms small, rounded masses resembling cotton balls. Crystals are rare but will form fibrous, elongated crystals either oriented parallel or radial to each other. Crystals may also be acicular, resembling needles (Anthony et al., 2005).<ref name = Anthony >{{cite book |editor1-last=Anthony |editor1-first=John W. |editor2-last=Bideaux |editor2-first=Richard A. |editor3-last=Bladh |editor3-first=Kenneth W. |editor4-last=Nichols |editor4-first=Monte C. |title=Handbook of Mineralogy |date=2005 |publisher=Mineral Data Publishing |location=Tucson, Arizona, USA |chapter=Ulexite |url=https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/ulexite.pdf }}</ref> The point group of ulexite is 1, which means that the crystals show very little symmetry as there are no rotational axes or mirror planes. Ulexite is greatly elongated along [001]. The most common [[Crystal twinning | twinning]] plane is (010). Ulexite collected from the Flat Bay gypsum quarry in Newfoundland exhibits acicular "cotton balls" of crystals with a nearly square cross-section formed by the equal development of two pinacoids. The crystals are about 1–3&nbsp;[[μm]] thick and 50–80&nbsp;μm long, arranged in loosely packed, randomly oriented overlapping bundles (Papezik and Fong, 1975).<ref name = Papezik>{{cite journal |last1=Papezik |first1=V.S. |last2=Fong |first2=C.C.K. |title=Howlite and Ulexite from Carboniferous gypsum and anhydrite beds in Western Newfoundland |journal=The Canadian Mineralogist |date=1975 |volume=13 |pages=370–376}}</ref> In general, the crystals have six to eight faces with three to six terminal faces (Murdoch, 1940).<ref name = Murdoch>{{cite journal |last1=Murdoch |first1=Joseph |title=The crystallography of ulexite |journal=American Mineralogist |date=1940 |volume=25 |pages=754–762}}</ref>