Materials

Gypsum

JIP-sum

Mineral

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Gypsum." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/materials/gypsum.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Gypsum. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/materials/gypsum

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-gypsum,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Gypsum},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/materials/gypsum},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A soft sulfate mineral of calcium sulfate dihydrate, defining hardness value 2 on the Mohs scale. It forms as an evaporite and as a hydration product of anhydrite, crystallizes as translucent selenite, and is widely mined as a fertilizer and as the main constituent of plaster, drywall and chalk.

Facts

Kind

Mineral 1

Formation Class

Evaporite (forms as an evaporite mineral and as a hydration product of anhydrite) 1

Chemical Formula

CaSO4 2H2O (calcium sulfate dihydrate) 1

Hardness (Mohs)

2 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Mohs Hardness Scale

The Mohs scale defines gypsum as hardness value 2.

Source Gypsum (Wikipedia)

In Discipline

Mineralogy

Source Gypsum (Wikipedia)

Sources

1. Gypsum (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationLead section

Quote, Lead section

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness defines gypsum as hardness value 2 based on scratch hardness comparison.

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