Normandite

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Normandite
Normandite.jpg
General
Category Mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)
NaCa(Mn2+,Fe2+)(Ti,Nb,Zr)Si2O7(O,F)2
IMA symbol Nmd [1]
Crystal system Monoclinic
Space group P21/a (no. 14)
Identification
Mohs scale hardness5 - 6
Specific gravity 3.48 - 3.5
References [2]

Normandite is a brittle orange brown sorosilicate mineral discovered in 1997 by Charles Normand (born 1963), of Montreal. Normandite occurs in Khibiny Massif, Kola, Russia; in Poudrette quarry, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec (type locality) and Tenerife, Canary Islands. It is found in nepheline syenite and in miarolitic cavities in nepheline syenite, associated with nepheline, albite, microcline, aegirine, natrolite, catapleiite, kupletskite, eudialyte, cancrinite, villiaumite, rinkite, and donnayite-(Y).

Normandite has a chemical formula of NaCa(Mn2+,Fe2+)(Ti,Nb,Zr)Si2O7(O,F)2. It crystallizes in the monoclinic-prismatic crystal system. It occurs as transparent to translucent orange-brown aggregates of subparallel acicular crystals up to 10 mm in length, and as patches of yellow, fibrous crystals. It has a white to very pale yellow streak and vitreous luster. It is brittle, with distinct {100} and {001} cleavages, and a conchoidal fracture. It has a specific gravity of 3.48 to 3.5, a Mohs hardness of 5 to 6 and refractive index values of nα=1.743, nβ=1.785 and nγ=1.810. It is named after Charles Normand (born 1963), Canadian geologist.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clintonite</span>

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3
(Al
3
Si)O
10
(OH)
2
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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eudialyte</span> Cyclosilicate mineral

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aegirine</span> Member of the clinopyroxene group of inosilicate mineral

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Sabinaite (Na4Zr2TiO4(CO3)4) is a rare carbonate mineral. It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system as colorless to white prisms within cavities. It is more typically found as powdery coatings and masses. It has a specific gravity of 3.36.

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Carletonite is a rare silicate mineral with formula KNa4Ca4(CO3)4Si8O18(F,OH)·(H2O).

Banalsite is a rare barium, sodium aluminium silicate mineral with formula: BaNa2Al4Si4O16. Banalsite is a tectosilicate of the feldspar group.

Kochite is a rare silicate mineral with chemical formula of (Na,Ca)3Ca2(Mn,Ca)ZrTi[(F,O)4(Si2O7)2] or double that. Kochite is a member of the rosenbuschite group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vlasovite</span>

Vlasovite is a rare inosilicate (chain silicate) mineral with sodium and zirconium, with the chemical formula Na2ZrSi4O11. It was discovered in 1961 at Vavnbed Mountain in the Lovozero Massif, in the Northern Region of Russia. The researchers who first identified it, R P Tikhonenkova and M E Kazakova, named it for Kuzma Aleksevich Vlasov (1905–1964), a Russian mineralogist and geochemist who studied the Lovozero massif, and who was the founder of the Institute of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Elements, Moscow, Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donnayite-(Y)</span> Rare-earth carbonate mineral containing the rare-earth metal yttrium

Donnayite-(Y) is a rare-earth carbonate mineral containing the rare-earth metal yttrium. It was first discovered in 1978 at Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec. Donnayite was subsequently identified and named after Joseph D. H. Donnay and his wife, Gabrielle Donnay. Both were prominent mineralogists and crystallographers, and J. D. H. Donnay was awarded the Roebling Award by the Mineralogical Society of America in 1971 for his emphasis on the importance of optical mineralogy and crystal morphology. Donnayite tends to occur in small quantities in the pegmatite dykes and miarolitic cavities of mountainous regions. It crystallizes in this environment with increasing alkalinity values until the alkalinity suddenly drops during the last stage of crystallization. This results in increasing amounts of Na carbonates and REE minerals. First discovered at Mont St-Hilaire, donnayite has since been found in the Southern Ural Mountains of Russia and the Narssarssuk pegmatite of South Greenland. Donnayite crystals tend to be small and the color is commonly pale yellow to yellow with a white streak and a vitreous luster. Donnayite crystals usually display trigonal or hexagonal symmetry and have a hardness of 3. Twinning is extremely common in this mineral. Minerals closely related to donnayite include synchysite, calcite, sphalerite, microcline, and analcime. Donnayite is isomorphous with weloganite and mckelveyite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serandite</span> Mineral

Serandite is a mineral with formula Na(Mn2+,Ca)2Si3O8(OH). The mineral was discovered in Guinea in 1931 and named for J. M. Sérand. Serandite is generally red, brown, black or colorless. The correct name lacks an accent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leifite</span>

Leifite is a rare tectosilicate. Tectosilicates are built on a framework of tetrahedra with silicon or aluminium at the centre and oxygen at the vertices; they include feldspars and zeolites, but leifite does not belong in either of these categories. It is a member of the leifite group, which includes telyushenkoite (Cs,Na,K)Na6(Be2Al3Si15O39) and eirikite KNa6Be2(Si15Al3)O39F2). Leifite was discovered in 1915, and named after Leif Ericson who was a Norse explorer who lived around 1000 AD, and was probably the first European to land in North America, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Eirikite was named in 2007 after Eirik Raude, or Erik the Red, (950–1003), who discovered Greenland and who was the father of Leif Ericson. The third mineral in the group, telyushenkoite, was discovered in 2001. It was not named after any of Leif Ericson's family members, but after a professor of geology in Turkmenistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doyleite</span> Hydroxide mineral

Doyleite is a rare aluminum trihydroxide mineral named in honor of its discoverer, the Canadian physician Earl Joseph (Jess) Doyle. It was first definitively described in 1985 and it is approved by the IMA. It was described from Mont Saint-Hilaire, where it is extremely rare.

References

  1. 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.
  2. Perchiazzi, N.; McDonald, A. M.; Gault, R. A.; Johnsen, O.; Merlino, S. (1 June 2000). "The Crystal Structure of Normandite and Its Crystal-Chemical Relationships With Lavenite". The Canadian Mineralogist. 38 (3): 641–648. doi:10.2113/gscanmin.38.3.641.