Wakefieldite-(Y)
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Wakefieldite () is an uncommon
rare-earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silve ...
vanadate In chemistry, a vanadate is an anionic coordination complex of vanadium. Often vanadate refers to oxoanions of vanadium, most of which exist in its highest oxidation state of +5. The complexes and are referred to as hexacyanovanadate(III) and no ...
mineral. There are four main types described of wakefieldite-
wakefieldite-(La) Wakefieldite-(La) () is the lanthanum analogue of the uncommon rare-earth element vanadate mineral Wakefieldite. It is a member of the xenotime group. Wakefieldite-(La) was first described in 2008 for an occurrence in the Glücksstern mine, Gott ...
,
wakefieldite-(Ce) Wakefieldite-(Ce) () is the cerium analogue of the uncommon rare-earth element vanadate mineral Wakefieldite. It is a member of the xenotime group. Wakefieldite-(Ce) was first described in 1977. It was initially given the name ''kusuïte'' for ...
,
wakefieldite-(Nd) Wakefieldite-(Nd) () is the neodymium analogue of the uncommon rare-earth element vanadate mineral wakefieldite. It is a member of the xenotime group. Wakefieldite-(Nd) was first described in 2008 at the Arase mine, Kami city, Kōchi Prefecture, ...
, and
wakefieldite-(Y) Wakefieldite () is an uncommon rare-earth element vanadate mineral. There are four main types described of wakefieldite- wakefieldite-(La), wakefieldite-(Ce), wakefieldite-(Nd), and wakefieldite-(Y), depending upon the dominant rare-earth metal io ...
, depending upon the dominant rare-earth metal ion present. Wakefieldite has a
Mohs hardness The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by th ...
ranging from 4 to 5. Wakefieldite forms crystals of
tetragonal In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...
structure. In terms of crystal structure, it is the
vanadate In chemistry, a vanadate is an anionic coordination complex of vanadium. Often vanadate refers to oxoanions of vanadium, most of which exist in its highest oxidation state of +5. The complexes and are referred to as hexacyanovanadate(III) and no ...
analog of the rare-earth
phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
mineral
xenotime Xenotime is a rare-earth phosphate mineral, the major component of which is yttrium orthophosphate ( Y P O4). It forms a solid solution series with chernovite-(Y) ( Y As O4) and therefore may contain trace impurities of arsenic, as well as sili ...
. Unlike xenotime, it is more favorable for wakefieldite to contain the lighter
rare-earth elements The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silve ...
over the heavier ones. Due to the
lanthanide contraction The lanthanide contraction is the greater-than-expected decrease in atomic radii/ionic radii of the elements in the lanthanide series from atomic number 57, lanthanum, to 71, lutetium, which results in smaller than otherwise expected atomic rad ...
, the heavier rare earths have smaller
ionic radii Ionic radius, ''r''ion, is the radius of a monatomic ion in an ionic crystal structure. Although neither atoms nor ions have sharp boundaries, they are treated as if they were hard spheres with radii such that the sum of ionic radii of the cation ...
than the lighter ones. When the
phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
anion is replaced by the larger
vanadate In chemistry, a vanadate is an anionic coordination complex of vanadium. Often vanadate refers to oxoanions of vanadium, most of which exist in its highest oxidation state of +5. The complexes and are referred to as hexacyanovanadate(III) and no ...
anion, the
tetragonal In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...
crystal system preferentially accommodates the larger light
rare-earth elements The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silve ...
. Wakefieldite was first described for an occurrence in the Evans Lou mine, St. Pierre de Wakefield,
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and later designated Wakefieldite-(Y).Mindat, Wakefieldite-(Y)


References

{{reflist Lanthanide minerals Vanadate minerals Tetragonal minerals Minerals in space group 141