Vandenbrandeite is a mineral named after a belgian geologist, Pierre Van den Brande, who discovered an ore deposit. It was named in 1932, and has been a valid mineral ever since then.
Properties
Vandenbrandeite grows in microcrystals, up to half a millimeter. It may be rounded, lathlike. The crystals are flattened on . It grows in parallel aggregates, in a lamellar, scaly shape. It is tabular, meaning its dimensions in one direction are weak.
It is a
pleochroic
Pleochroism (from Greek πλέων, ''pléōn'', "more" and χρῶμα, ''khrôma'', "color") is an optical phenomenon in which a substance has different colors when observed at different angles, especially with polarized light.
Backgroun ...
mineral. Depending on the axis the mineral is seen the color of it changes, which is an optical phenomenon. On the x axis it can be seen as a blue-green, and on the z axis is seen as a yellow-green mineral. It is highly stable in the presence of both water and hydrogen peroxide.
Vandenbrandeite, due to being strongly radioactive, is usually closely associated with other radioactive minerals.
Its radioactive properties is due to its composition. The mineral is made out of 59.27% uranium, which is the main component of the mineral. It has a GRapi (
Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units
Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter re ...
) of 4,352,567.33. It has a concentration of 229.75 measured in GRapi. Other chemical elements included in vandenbrandeite are oxygen (23.9%), copper (15.82%) and hydrogen (1%). Although it is radioactive, the mineral is not fluorescent. It is a
secondary mineral A primary mineral is any mineral formed during the original crystallization of the host igneous primary rock and includes the essential mineral(s) used to classify the rock along with any accessory minerals. In ore deposit geology, hypogene processe ...
.
[{{Cite web, title=Vandenbrandeite Mineral Data, url=http://webmineral.com/data/Vandenbrandeite.shtml, access-date=2021-06-22, website=webmineral.com]
References
Uranium minerals
Copper minerals
Triclinic minerals
Minerals described in 1932