The mineral zektzerite is a member of the tuhualite group and was first found in 1966 from the Willow creek basin below Silver Star mountain in miarolitic cavities within the alkaline riebeckite

Riebeckite

Riebeckite is a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals, chemical formula [][Na2][32][2|Si8O22]. It forms a series with magnesioriebeckite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually as long prismatic crystals showing a diamond-shaped cross section, but also in...

 granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 phase of the Golden Horn batholith

Batholith

A batholith is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust...

, Okanogan County, Washington. It is named for Jack Zektzer (1936-), mathematician and mineral collector of Seattle, Washington.

The mineral was misidentified as alkali beryl (morganite) at that time. Subsequently in September, 1975 additional specimens of the mineral were found in a float boulder on the north side of Kangaroo Ridge at an approximate elevation of 6500 feet and recognized that the material was not beryl.

Properties

Synthesis: by fusion

Melting

Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase change of a substance from a solid to a liquid. The internal energy of a substance is increased, typically by the application of heat or pressure, resulting in a rise of its temperature to the melting point, at which the rigid...

 of Li₂CO₃

Lithium carbonate

Lithium carbonate is a chemical compound of lithium, carbon, and oxygen with the formula Li2CO3. This colorless salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxides and has received attention for its use in psychiatry. It is found in nature as the rare mineral zabuyelite.-Properties:Like almost...

, Na₂CO₃

Sodium carbonate

Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...

, SiO₂

Silicon dioxide

The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica , is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula '. It has been known for its hardness since antiquity...

, ZrO₂

Zirconium dioxide

Zirconium dioxide , sometimes known as zirconia , is a white crystalline oxide of zirconium. Its most naturally occurring form, with a monoclinic crystalline structure, is the rare mineral baddeleyite. The high temperature cubic crystalline form is rarely found in nature as mineral tazheranite O2...

. The resulting material has a brilliant blue white fluorescence under short wave ultraviolet light.

Occurrence

A mineral of agpaitic (peralkaline, arfvedsonite

Arfvedsonite

Arfvedsonite is a sodium amphibole mineral with composition: [Na][Na2][4Fe3+][2|Si8O22]. It crystallizes in the monoclinic prismatic crystal system and typically occurs as greenish black to bluish grey fibrous to radiating or stellate prisms....

) granites occurring with smoky quartz, microcline

Microcline

Microcline is an important igneous rock-forming tectosilicate mineral. It is a potassium-rich alkali feldspar. Microcline typically contains minor amounts of sodium. It is common in granite and pegmatites. Microcline forms during slow cooling of orthoclase; it is more stable at lower temperatures...

, arfvedsonite, okanoganite, sogdianite, astrophyllite

Astrophyllite

Astrophyllite is a very rare, brown to golden-yellow hydrous potassium iron titanium silicate mineral. Belonging to the astrophyllite group, astrophyllite may be classed either as an inosilicate, phyllosilicate, or an intermediate between the two. It forms an isomorphous series with kupletskite, to...

, zircon. Found in cavities as euhedral

Euhedral

Euhedral crystals are those that are well-formed with sharp, easily recognised faces. Normally, crystals do not form smooth faces or sharp crystal outlines. Many crystals grow from cooling liquid magma...

 crystals in the agpaitic granite phase of the Golden Horn batholith, Okanogan County Washington. It also occurs in blocks of pegmatite

Pegmatite

A pegmatite is a very crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed of interlocking crystals usually larger than 2.5 cm in size; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic....

 as rock forming grains in a moraine

Moraine

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

 of the Dara Pioz glacier northern Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

 and as rock forming grains in the Del Salto pluton Aisen, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...