porowito

Porowito is a fictional mineral used in geology and mining education as an illustrative example of porosity and permeability in porous media. It is not a real mineral species recognized by the International Mineralogical Association, and there is no field occurrence cataloged under this name. The name combines "poro-" from porosity with the common mineral suffix "-ito," signaling a diminutive or illustrative mineral.

Properties: Porowito is described as a low-density material with a silicate framework containing abundant void spaces. In educational models, it exhibits porosity values that can range widely, typically from about 20% to 60%, and permeabilities that vary with pore connectivity. The imagined crystal structure may be described as a porous, possibly microcrystalline silicate with intergranular and intragranular pores.

Occurrence and formation: In the fictional narrative, porowito is said to form in diagenetic environments where dissolution creates voids within sedimentary materials, or as a synthetic analogue produced in laboratory simulations to study fluid flow in porous rocks.

Applications: Porowito is used to illustrate Darcy's law, pore-size distribution, and the relationship between porosity and permeability. It can be used in classroom demonstrations, computer simulations, or lab exercises designed to teach hydrogeology and petroleum geology concepts.

See also: Porosity, Permeability, Silicate minerals, Geological education.