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Baddeleyite is a rare zirconium oxide mineral (ZrO2 or zirconia), occurring in a variety of monoclinic prismatic crystal forms. It is transparent to translucent, has high indices of refraction, and ranges from colorless to yellow, green, and dark brown. See etymology below.
Anorthite is the calcium endmember of the plagioclase feldspar mineral series. The chemical formula of pure anorthite is CaAl2Si2O8. Anorthite is found in mafic igneous rocks. Anorthite is rare on the Earth but abundant on the Moon.
Moissanite is naturally occurring silicon carbide and its various crystalline polymorphs. It has the chemical formula SiC and is a rare mineral, discovered by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893. Silicon carbide is useful for commercial and industrial applications due to its hardness, optical properties and thermal conductivity.
Armalcolite is a titanium-rich mineral with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe2+)Ti2O5. It was first found at Tranquility Base on the Moon in 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission, and is named for Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, the three Apollo 11 astronauts. Together with tranquillityite and pyroxferroite, it is one of three new minerals that were discovered on the Moon. Armalcolite was later identified at various locations on Earth and has been synthesized in the laboratory. (Tranquillityite and pyroxferroite were also later found at various locations on Earth). The synthesis requires low pressures, high temperatures and rapid quenching from about 1,000 °C to the ambient temperature. Armalcolite breaks down to a mixture of magnesium-rich ilmenite and rutile at temperatures below 1,000 °C, but the conversion slows down with cooling. Because of this quenching requirement, armalcolite is relatively rare and is usually found in association with ilmenite and rutile, among other minerals.
Stishovite is an extremely hard, dense tetragonal form (polymorph) of silicon dioxide. It is very rare on the Earth's surface; however, it may be a predominant form of silicon dioxide in the Earth, especially in the lower mantle.
Painite is a very rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new mineral species, the mineral was named after him. Due to its rarity, painite can cost in the range of between US$50,000 to $60,000 per carat.
Nixonite is a mineral named after professor Peter H. Nixon. It is chemically related to freudenbergite and loparite-(Ce).
Omphacite is a member of the clinopyroxene group of silicate minerals with formula: (Ca, Na)(Mg, Fe2+, Al)Si2O6. It is a variably deep to pale green or nearly colorless variety of clinopyroxene. It normally appears in eclogite, which is the high-pressure metamorphic rock of basalt. Omphacite is the solid solution of Fe-bearing diopside and jadeite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system with prismatic, typically twinned forms, though usually anhedral. Its space group can be P2/n or C2/c depending on the thermal history. It exhibits the typical near 90° pyroxene cleavage. It is brittle with specific gravity of 3.29 to 3.39 and a Mohs hardness of 5 to 6.
Whitlockite is a mineral, an unusual form of calcium phosphate. Its formula is Ca9(MgFe)(PO4)6PO3OH. It is a relatively rare mineral but is found in granitic pegmatites, phosphate rock deposits, guano caves and in chondrite meteorites. It was first described in 1941 and named for Herbert Percy Whitlock (1868–1948), American mineralogist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Ringwoodite is a high-pressure phase of Mg2SiO4 (magnesium silicate) formed at high temperatures and pressures of the Earth's mantle between 525 and 660 km (326 and 410 mi) depth. It may also contain iron and hydrogen. It is polymorphous with the olivine phase forsterite (a magnesium iron silicate).
Betafite is a mineral group in the pyrochlore supergroup, with the chemical formula (Ca,U)2(Ti,Nb,Ta)2O6(OH). Betafite typically occurs as a primary mineral in granite pegmatites, rarely in carbonatites. Originally defined by the B-site atom Ti, the development of new nomenclature for mineral names led to modernization of the system for nomenclature of pyrochlore and betafite in order to further rationalize the naming process of this grouping of minerals. Only two of the mineral species that were formerly recognized as betafite are presently retained. They are oxyuranobetafite and oxycalciobetafite. The term betafite is now a synonym or varietal group name under the pyrochlore super group.
Allabogdanite is a very rare phosphide mineral with the chemical formula (Fe,Ni)2P, found in 1994 in a meteorite. It was described for an occurrence in the Onello meteorite in the Onello River basin, Sakha Republic; Yakutia, Russia; associated with taenite, schreibersite, kamacite, graphite and awaruite. It was named for Russian geologist Alla Bogdanova.
Seifertite is a silicate mineral with the formula SiO2 and is one of the densest polymorphs of silica. It has only been found in Martian and lunar meteorites, where it is presumably formed from either tridymite or cristobalite – other polymorphs of quartz – as a result of heating during the atmospheric re-entry and impact to the Earth, at an estimated minimal pressure of 35 GPa. It can also be produced in the laboratory by compressing cristobalite in a diamond anvil cell to pressures above 40 GPa. The mineral is named after Friedrich Seifert (born 1941), the founder of the Bayerisches Geoinstitut at University of Bayreuth, Germany, and is officially recognized by the International Mineralogical Association.
Edenite is a double chain silicate mineral of the amphibole group with the general chemical composition NaCa2Mg5(Si7Al)O22(OH)2. Edenite is named for the locality of Edenville, Orange County, New York, where it was first described.
Krotite is a natural mineral composed of calcium, aluminium and oxygen, with the molecular formula CaAl2O4. It is the low-pressure dimorph of CaAl2O4, of which the high-pressure dimorph is named dmitryivanovite.
Dmitryivanovite is a natural mineral composed of calcium, aluminium and oxygen, with the molecular formula CaAl2O4. It was reported in 2009 in a calcium-aluminium-rich inclusion in the carbonaceous chondrite meteorite 470 (NWA470) CH3, which landed in North Africa. The mineral name was chosen to honor Dmitriy A. Ivanov (1962–1986), a geologist, mineralogist, and petrologist who died on a field expedition.
Sinoite is rare mineral with the chemical formula Si2N2O. It was first found in 1905 in chondrite meteorites and identified as a distinct mineral in 1965. Sinoite crystallizes upon meteorite impact as grains smaller than 0.2 mm surrounded by Fe-Ni alloys and the mineral enstatite. It is named after its SiNO composition and can be prepared in the laboratory as a silicon oxynitride ceramic.
Tetrataenite is a native metal alloy composed of chemically-ordered L10-type FeNi, recognized as a mineral in 1980. The mineral is named after its tetragonal crystal structure and its relation to the iron-nickel alloy, taenite. It is one of the mineral phases found in meteoric iron.
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.
Yagiite is a cyclosilicate mineral belonging to the osumilite group. It was discovered in 1968 in the iron meteorite that fell in Colomera in the province of Granada (Spain). Named after the Japanese mineralogist Kenzo Yagi, its CAS Registry Number is IMA1968-020.
References
- ↑ Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi: 10.1180/mgm.2021.43 . S2CID 235729616.
- ↑ Mineralienatlas
- ↑ Merrillite data on Webmineral
- 1 2 3 4 "Merrillite". Mindat. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
- ↑ "Merrillite". Mindat. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- 1 2 "Cerite Supergroup". Mindat. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ↑ "New mineral found by Chinese scientists". China Daily. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ↑ Jolliff, Bradley L.; John M. Hughes; John J. Freeman & Ryan A. Zeigler (2006). "Crystal chemistry of lunar merrillite and comparison to other meteoritic and planetary suites of whitlockite and merrillite". American Mineralogist. 91 (10): 1583–1595. Bibcode:2006AmMin..91.1583J. doi:10.2138/am.2006.2185. S2CID 140580667.
- ↑ Kaminsky, Felix V.; Zedgenizov, Dmitry A. (2022). "First find of merrillite, Ca3(PO4)2, in a terrestrial environment as an inclusion in lower-mantle diamond". American Mineralogist. 107 (8): 1652–1655. doi:10.2138/am-2022-8175. S2CID 251071674.