Veatchite from the Permian evaporites of Yorkshire

Abstract

Some years ago a few small grains of an unknown mineral were separated by F. H. Stewart from well cuttings from the Permian lower evaporite bed of the Eskdale no. 2 borehole, sunk by the D'Arcy Exploration Company near Aislaby, north Yorkshire. The mineral (not then identified) was mentioned in an account of the mineralogy of this evaporite bed (Stewart, 1949, p. 626). Flame tests suggested that boron and strontium were present, and this was confirmed by Dr. R. L. Mitchell of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in Aberdeen, who, by spectrographic work, found that these were the main constituents, and that very much smaller quantities of Ca, Mg, Ba, Na, and K were present.