Ikaite

Ikaite is the mineral name for the hexahydrate of calcium carbonate, CaCO<sub>3</sub>·6H<sub>2</sub>O. Ikaite is colorless when pure. It is usually considered a rare mineral, but this is likely due to difficulty in preserving samples. It was first discovered in nature by the Danish mineralogist Pauly in the Ikka (then spelt Ika) fjord in SW Greenland, close to Ivigtut, the locality of the famous cryolite deposit. Here ikaite occurs in truly spectacular towers growing out of the fjord floor towards the surface water, where they are naturally truncated by waves, or unnaturally by the occasional boat. At the Ikka Fjord, it is believed that the ikaite towers are created as the result of a groundwater seep, rich in carbonate and bicarbonate ions, entering the fjord bottom in the form of springs, where it hits the marine fjord waters rich in calcium. Ikaite has also been reported as occurring in high-latitude marine sediments at Bransfield Strait, Antarctica; Sea of Okhotsk, Eastern Siberia, off Sakhalin; and Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. In addition it has been reported in a deep sea fan off the Congo, and therefore probably has worldwide occurrence. In addition to the massive towers of ikaite, ikaite can also form large crystals within sediment that grow to macroscopic size, occasionally with good crystal form. There is strong evidence that some of these marine deposits are associated with cold seeps.