''vivianite'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260708194133-00-⌔

vivianite - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

🖼️ ➺

Noun

vivianite (countable and uncountable, plural vivianites)

• (mineralogy) A blue, green or colourless mineral of monoclinic crystals, Fe${}_3$ (P O${}_4$)${}_2$ · 8 H${}_2$ O.
  • ✤ Using the rover’s organic chemical detector to analyze the spots, scientists at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) found iron, phosphorus and sulfur arranged in patterns consistent with minerals like vivianite (hydrated iron phosphate) and greigite (iron sulfide) that could have “potentially been made by ancient life.”¹

Etymology

Named after its discoverer English mineralogist Jeffrey G. Vivian in 1817.²

Pronunciation

• Audio: 🔊

Printed 2026-07-08.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 2025 September 11, Matthew Glasser, Julia Jacobo, “Rock found on Mars could be evidence of ancient life, NASA says”, in ABC News ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

2. Richard V. Gaines, H. Catherine W. Skinner, Eugene E. Foord, Brian Mason, and Abraham Rosenzweig: Dana’s new mineralogy, John Wiley & Sons, 1997 ↩