Dypingite is a secondary magnesium carbonate mineral that typically forms as delicate white crusts or platy aggregates in weathered ultramafic environments. Collectors often find it as a fine-grained, chalky coating on serpentine rocks, where it is frequently misidentified as hydromagnesite.
Is this dypingite?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch dypingite with a known reference. Dypingite sits at Mohs 2.5, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: white.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: pearly.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: white.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: monoclinic. Typical habit: aggregates, globular.
Often confused with
Dypingite vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
How to tell apart: Hydromagnesite is the harder of the two (Mohs 3.5 vs. 2.5); luster reads pearly on Dypingite and vitreous; silky to pearly to dull in aggregates on Hydromagnesite.
How to tell apart: Luster reads pearly on Dypingite and vitreous, silky to satiny in aggregates on Artinite.
How to tell apart: Magnesite is the harder of the two (Mohs 3.5-4.5 vs. 2.5); luster reads pearly on Dypingite and vitreous on Magnesite.
Often found alongside dypingite
Minerals reported to co-occur with dypingite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂·5H₂O
- Mohs hardness
- 2.5
- Density
- 2.15 g/cm³
- Colors
- Streak
- White
- Luster
- Pearly
- Transparency
- Semitransparent
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Crystal habit
- Aggregates, globular
- Cleavage
- Perfect
- Fluorescence
- Gray blue under SW UV; light blue under LW UV
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Uses
- Collector, Scientific research
- Host rock
- Coats fractures and exposed surfaces in serpentine; may be of recent formation on dump materials
Where rockhounds find dypingite
Classic worldwide localities
- Sterling Hill, Ogdensburg, Sussex Co., New Jersey, USA
- Robinson Gulch, Jefferson Co., Colorado, USA
- Found at the Akers prospect, about six km south of Idria, San Benito Co., California, USA
- Dypingdal, near Snarum, Modum, Norway
- Hagdale, Unst, Shetland Islands, Scotland
- Kraubath, Styria, Austria
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: Coats fractures and exposed surfaces in serpentine; may be of recent formation on dump materials. If you start seeing hydrotalcite, magnesite, brucite in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: aggregates, globular. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop.
Common questions
How do you identify dypingite?+
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What rocks look like dypingite?+
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Find dypingite on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
