A rare mineral composed of copper phosphate, found in oxidized copper ore deposits, named for its cork-like appearance or texture.
Formed from 'cork' + mineralogical suffix '-ite' (standard for mineral names), named by mineralogists in the 19th century based on the material's visual or tactile resemblance to cork.
Mineralogists naming minerals after everyday objects like 'corkite' is actually a brilliant system—'corkite' immediately tells geologists 'this copper phosphate has a distinctive cork-like appearance', which is faster than 'a brownish mineral with a spongy texture'.
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