Zeolite zones in East Greenland: use of native copper by pre‐contact Inuit?

• Published in: Geology Today
• Main Author: Brooks, Kent
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; East Greenland; inuit
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gto.12230; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgto.12230; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gto.12230

Zeolites are a diverse group of calcium and sodium aluminosilicate minerals. They are tectosilicates (3‐D arrays of SiO 4 tetrahedra), but vary in chemistry and crystal symmetry. Some readily exchange sodium for calcium and are used as water softeners. They also find applications as molecular sieves in petroleum refining, although the bulk of zeolites used industrially today are synthetic. These minerals form at low temperatures under well‐defined conditions and can be used as indicators of palaeotemperatures. In the same environment, but at higher temperatures, other minerals form including quartz, calcite, prehnite and even native copper. The Inuit of East Greenland, a Stone Age people, may have utilized native copper from this environment as did the Copper Inuit of the central Canadian Arctic.