Tags: Chemical Substance, Mineral.
Antarcticite is an uncommon calcium chloride hexahydrate mineral with formula: CaCl2·6H2O. It forms colorless acicular trigonal crystals. It is hygroscopic and has a low specific gravity of 1.715.As its name implies it was first described in 1965 for an occurrence in Antarctica where it occurs as crystalline precipitate from a highly saline brine in Don Juan Pond in the west end of Wright Valley Victoria Land. This discovery was made by Japanese geochemists Tetsuya Torii and Joyo Ossaka.