Category Halide mineral Strunz classification 3.DA.10a Space group Pnma | Formula(repeating unit) Cu2Cl(OH)3 Crystal system Orthorhombic | |
Crystal class Dipyramidal (mmm)H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m) | ||
Atacamite is a copper halide mineral: a copper(II) chloride hydroxide with formula Cu2Cl(OH)3.
It was first described for deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile in 1801.
Atacamite is polymorphous with botallackite, clinoatacamite, and paratacamite. Atacamite is a comparatively rare mineral, formed from primary copper minerals in the oxidation or weathering zone of arid climates. It has also been reported as a volcanic sublimate from fumarole deposits, as sulfide alteration products in black smokers and as alteration of ancient bronze and copper artefacts. It occurs in association with cuprite, brochantite, linarite, caledonite, malachite, chrysocolla and its polymorphs.
It has been shown that atacamite is a component of the jaws of some Glycera species.