Related Research Articles
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.
Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Amphibole is a group of inosilicate minerals, forming prism or needlelike crystals, composed of double chain SiO
4 tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures. Its IMA symbol is Amp. Amphiboles can be green, black, colorless, white, yellow, blue, or brown. The International Mineralogical Association currently classifies amphiboles as a mineral supergroup, within which are two groups and several subgroups.
The pyroxenes are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula XY(Si,Al)2O6, where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron or magnesium (Mg) and more rarely zinc, manganese or lithium, and Y represents ions of smaller size, such as chromium (Cr), aluminium (Al), magnesium (Mg), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), scandium (Sc), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V) or even iron. Although aluminium substitutes extensively for silicon in silicates such as feldspars and amphiboles, the substitution occurs only to a limited extent in most pyroxenes. They share a common structure consisting of single chains of silica tetrahedra. Pyroxenes that crystallize in the monoclinic system are known as clinopyroxenes and those that crystallize in the orthorhombic system are known as orthopyroxenes.
Augite is a common rock-forming pyroxene mineral with formula (Ca,Na)(Mg,Fe,Al,Ti)(Si,Al)2O6. The crystals are monoclinic and prismatic. Augite has two prominent cleavages, meeting at angles near 90 degrees.
Wollastonite is a calcium inosilicate mineral (CaSiO3) that may contain small amounts of iron, magnesium, and manganese substituting for calcium. It is usually white. It forms when impure limestone or dolomite is subjected to high temperature and pressure, which sometimes occurs in the presence of silica-bearing fluids as in skarns or in contact with metamorphic rocks. Associated minerals include garnets, vesuvianite, diopside, tremolite, epidote, plagioclase feldspar, pyroxene and calcite. It is named after the English chemist and mineralogist William Hyde Wollaston (1766–1828).
Diallage is an inosilicate, meaning it's a chain silicate, and is a part of the pyroxene group. Diallage is a junction between augite and diopside, just like fassaite. It was named in 1801 by René Just Haüy. Its name derives from the Greek word diallaghé, as its composition differs from that of the other minerals in the pyroxene group. It is a fairly common mineral, and is cheap.
Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust.
Scandium(III) oxide or scandia is a inorganic compound with formula Sc2O3. It is one of several oxides of rare earth elements with a high melting point. It is used in the preparation of other scandium compounds as well as in high-temperature systems (for its resistance to heat and thermal shock), electronic ceramics, and glass composition (as a helper material).
Clinozoisite is a complex calcium aluminium sorosilicate mineral with formula: Ca2Al3(Si2O7)(SiO4)O(OH). It forms a continuous solid solution series with epidote by substitution of iron(III) in the aluminium (m3 site) and is also called aluminium epidote.
Melilite refers to a mineral of the melilite group. Minerals of the group are solid solutions of several endmembers, the most important of which are gehlenite and åkermanite. A generalized formula for common melilite is (Ca,Na)2(Al,Mg,Fe2+)[(Al,Si)SiO7]. Discovered in 1793 near Rome, it has a yellowish, greenish-brown color. The name derives from the Greek words meli (μέλι) "honey" and lithos (λίθους) "stone".The name refers to a group of minerals (melilite group) with chemically similar composition, nearly always minerals in åkermanite-gehlenite series.
Bazzite is a beryllium scandium cyclosilicate mineral with chemical formula Be3Sc2Si6O18. It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system typically as small blue hexagonal crystals up to 2 cm length. It has a Mohs hardness of 6.5-7 and a specific gravity of 2.77 to 2.85.
The endmember hornblende tschermakite (☐Ca2(Mg3Al2)(Si6Al2)O22(OH)2) is a calcium rich monoclinic amphibole mineral. It is frequently synthesized along with its ternary solid solution series members tremolite and cummingtonite so that the thermodynamic properties of its assemblage can be applied to solving other solid solution series from a variety of amphibole minerals.
Panguite is a type of titanium oxide mineral first discovered as an inclusion within the Allende meteorite, and first described in 2012.
Kangite is an exceedingly rare scandium mineral, a natural form of impure scandium oxide (Sc2O3), with the formula (Sc,Ti,Al,Zr,Mg,Ca,□)2O3. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system diploidal class. In terms of chemistry it scandium-analogue of tistarite. Both kangite and tistarite were discovered in the Allende meteorite.
Allendeite, Sc4Zr3O12, is an oxide mineral. Allendeite was discovered in a small ultrarefractory inclusion within the Allende meteorite. This inclusion has been named ACM-1. It is one of several scandium rich minerals that have been found in meteorites. Allendeite is trigonal, with a calculated density of 4.84 g/cm3. The new mineral was found along with hexamolybdenum. These minerals, are believed to demonstrate conditions during the early stages of the Solar System, as is the case with many CV3 carbonaceous chondrites such as the Allende meteorite. It is named after the Allende meteorite that fell in 1969 near Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Scandiobabingtonite was first discovered in the Montecatini granite quarry near Baveno, Italy in a pegmatite cavity. Though found in pegmatites, the crystals of scandiobabingtonite are sub-millimeter sized, and are tabular shaped. Scandiobabingtonite was the sixth naturally occurring mineral discovered with the rare earth element scandium, and grows around babingtonite, with which it is isostructural, hence the namesake. It is also referred to as scandian babingtonite. The ideal chemical formula for scandiobabingtonite is Ca2(Fe2+,Mn)ScSi5O14(OH).
Grossmanite is a very rare mineral of the pyroxene group, with formula CaTi3+AlSiO6. It is the titanium-dominant member. Grossmanite is unique in being a mineral with trivalent titanium, a feature shared with tistarite, Ti2O3. Titanium in minerals is almost exclusively tetravalent. Grossmanite stands for titanium-analogue of davisite, esseneite and kushiroite - other members of the pyroxene group. Both grossmanite and tistarite come from the famous Allende meteorite.
Esseneite is a relative rare mineral of the pyroxene group, with formula CaFeAlSiO6. It is the ferric-iron-dominant member. Esseneite is an iron-analogue of other pyroxene-group members, davisite, grossmanite, and kushiroite. It is a metamorphic mineral forming in pyrometamorphic rocks called paralavas, which are formed due to fusing on sedimentary rocks usually in result of coal fires. Esseneite is found in both natural and anthropogenic coal-fire sites.
Kushiroite is a rare mineral of the pyroxene group, with formula CaAlAlSiO6. It is the fully aluminian member. The formula of kushiroite corresponds to the molecule (or component) known as Calcium-Tschermak (Ca-Tschermak), which dominates in the composition of kushiroite. Kushiroite is an aluminium-analogue of other pyroxene-group members, davisite, esseneite, and grossmanite. It was found in a chondrite meteorite within refractory inclusions.
References
- ↑ Ma, C., and Rossmann, G.R., 2009: Davisite, CaScAlSiO6, a new pyroxene from the Allende meteorite
- 1 2 Mindat, http://www.mindat.org/min-38829.html
- ↑ Scandium, The mineralogy of Scandium - Mindat. org
- ↑ Ohashi, H.; Ii, N. (1978). "Structure of calcium scandium aluminum silicate (CaScAlSiO6)-pyroxene". Journal of the Japanese Association of Mineralogists, Petrologists and Economic Geologists. 73: 267–273. doi: 10.2465/ganko1941.73.267 .
 | This article about a specific silicate mineral is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |