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Eudialyte
Eudialyte, whose name derives from the Greek phrase , , meaning "well decomposable", is a somewhat rare, nine-member-ring cyclosilicate mineral, which forms in alkaline igneous rocks, such as nepheline syenites. Its name alludes to its ready solubility in acid. Eudialyte was first described in 1819 for an occurrence in nepheline syenite of the Ilimaussaq intrusive complex of southwest Greenland. Uses Eudialyte is used as a minor ore of zirconium. Another use of eudialyte is as a minor gemstone, but this use is limited by its rarity, which is compounded by its poor crystal habit. These factors make eudialyte of primary interest as a collector's mineral. Eudialyte typically has a significant content of U, Pb, Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, and rare earth elements (REE). Because of this, geoscientists use eudialyte as a geochronometer to date and investigate the genesis of the host rocks. Associated minerals Eudialyte is found associated with other alkalic igneous minerals, in addition to som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zirconium
Zirconium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Zr and atomic number 40. First identified in 1789, isolated in impure form in 1824, and manufactured at scale by 1925, pure zirconium is a lustrous transition metal with a greyish-white color that closely resembles hafnium and, to a lesser extent, titanium. It is solid at room temperature, Ductility, ductile, malleable and corrosion-resistant. The name ''zirconium'' is derived from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian Language, Persian ''Jargoon, zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'', "gold-like" or "as gold"). Besides zircon, zirconium occurs in over 140 other minerals, including baddeleyite and eudialyte; most zirconium is produced as a byproduct of minerals mined for titanium and tin. Zirconium forms a variety of inorganic chemistry, inorganic compounds, such as zirconium dioxide, and organometallic compounds, such as zirconocene dichloride. Five isotope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepheline Syenite
Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline Intrusion, plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are also known. Phonolite is the fine-grained Extrusive rock, extrusive equivalent. Petrology Nepheline syenites are silica-undersaturated and some are peralkaline (terms discussed in igneous rock). Nepheline is a feldspathoid, a solid-solution mineral, that does not coexist with quartz; rather, nepheline would react with quartz to produce alkali feldspar. They are distinguished from syenites not only by the presence of nepheline but also by the occurrence of many other minerals rich in alkalis and in rare earths and other incompatible elements. In nepheline syenites, alkali feldspar dominates, commonly represented by orthoclase and the exsolved lamellar albite, form perthite. In some rocks the potash feldspar, in others the soda f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rare Earth Elements
The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft heavy metals. Compounds containing rare earths have diverse applications in electrical and electronic components, lasers, glass, magnetic materials, and industrial processes. The term "rare-earth" is a misnomer because they are not actually scarce, but historically it took a long time to isolate these elements. They are relatively plentiful in the entire Earth's crust (cerium being the 25th-most-abundant element at 68 parts per million, more abundant than copper), but in practice they are spread thinly as trace impurities, so to obtain rare earths at usable purity requires processing enormous amounts of raw ore at great expense; thus the name "rare" earths. Scandium and yttrium are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ilimaussaq Intrusive Complex
The Ilimaussaq intrusive complex is a large alkalic layered intrusion located on the southwest coast of Greenland. It is Mesoproterozoic in age, about 1.16 Ga. It is the type locality of agpaitic nepheline syenite and hosts a variety of unusual rock types. The complex is noted for a wide variety of rare minerals and is the type locality for thirty minerals, including: aenigmatite, arfvedsonite, sodalite, eudialyte and tugtupite.http://www.mindat.org/loc-4302.html Mindat locality. The complex has an areal extent of 8 by 17 km and an exposed thickness of 1700 m. The complex includes Kvanefjeld, a uranium deposit and a large reserve of rare-earth elements, zirconium, niobium and beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, hard, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with .... References Geology of Greenland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aegirine
Aegirine is a member of the clinopyroxene group of inosilicate minerals. It is the sodium endmember of the aegirine– augite series. It has the chemical formula NaFeSi2O6, in which the iron is present as the ion Fe3+. In the aegirine–augite series, the sodium is variably replaced by calcium with iron(II) and magnesium replacing the iron(III) to balance the charge. Aluminum also substitutes for the iron(III). Acmite is a fibrous green-colored variety. Aegirine occurs as dark green monoclinic prismatic crystals. It has a glassy luster and perfect cleavage. Its Mohs hardness varies from 5 to 6 and its specific gravity is between 3.2 and 3.4. This mineral commonly occurs in alkalic igneous rocks, nepheline syenites, carbonatites and pegmatites. It also appears in regionally metamorphosed schists, gneisses, and iron formations; in blueschist facies rocks, and from sodium metasomatism in granulites. It may occur as an authigenic mineral in shales and marls. It occurs in associ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenzenite
Lorenzenite is a rare sodium titanium silicate mineral with the formula Na2 Ti2 Si2 O9 It is an orthorhombic mineral, variously found as colorless, grey, pinkish, or brown crystals. It was first identified in 1897 in rock samples from Narsarsuk, Greenland. In 1947 it was discovered to be the same as the mineral ramsayite (now a synonym of lorenzenite), discovered in the 1920s in the Kola peninsula of Russia. It is also found in northern Canada. It occurs in nepheline syenites and pegmatites in association with aegirine, nepheline, microcline, arfvedsonite, elpidite, loparite, eudialyte, astrophyllite, mangan- neptunite, lavenite, rinkite, apatite, titanite and ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printi .... It was named in honor of Danish mineralogist Johannes T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclosilicate
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. In mineralogy, the crystalline forms of silica (silicon dioxide, ) are usually considered to be Silicate mineral#Tectosilicates, tectosilicates, and they are classified as such in the Dana system (75.1). However, the Nickel-Strunz system classifies them as oxide minerals (4.DA). Silica is found in nature as the mineral quartz, and its polymorphism (materials science), polymorphs. On Earth, a wide variety of silicate minerals occur in an even wider range of combinations as a result of the processes that have been forming and re-working the crust for billions of years. These processes include partial melting, crystallization, fractionation, metamorphism, weathering, and diagenesis. Living organisms also contribute to this carbonate–silicate cycle, geologic cycle. For example, a type of plankton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arfvedsonite
Arfvedsonite () or ''soda hornblende'' (partiellement obsolète) is a sodium amphibole mineral with composition: aNa2] Fe2+)4Fe3+(OH)2, Si8O22]. It crystallizes in the monoclinic prismatic crystal system and typically occurs as greenish black to bluish grey fibrous to radiating or stellate prisms. It is a rather rare mineral occurring in nepheline syenite intrusions and agpaitic (peralkaline) pegmatites and granites as the Golden Horn batholith in Okanogan County, Washington (type locality for zektzerite). Occurrences include Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada; the Ilímaussaq complex in Southern Greenland; and in pegmatites of the Kola Peninsula, Russia. Its mineral association includes nepheline, albite, aegirine, riebeckite, katophorite and quartz. Arfvedsonite was discovered in 1823 and named for the Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson (1792–1841). See also * List of minerals * List of minerals named after people This is a list of minerals named after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catapleiite
Catapleiite (·2) is a dimorph of gaidonnayite rarely found by itself. Its name derives from the Greek words "κατα" (kata) and "πλειον" (pleion) meaning "with more" as it is mostly accompanied by a number of rare minerals. When pure it is colorless, but it is most often seen as a tan, brownish-red, light yellow, dark brown, flesh red or orangish in color. It is mostly found on Låven Island, Norway. Its hardness on the Mohs scale is around 5.5–6. It has a monoclinic In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three Vector (geometric), vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in t ... crystal system. References Monoclinic minerals {{Mineral-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sodalite
Sodalite ( ) is a tectosilicate mineral with the formula , with royal blue varieties widely used as an ornamental gemstone. Although massive sodalite samples are opaque, crystals are usually transparent to translucent. Sodalite is a member of the sodalite group with hauyne, nosean, lazurite and tugtupite. The people of the Caral culture traded for sodalite from the Collao altiplano. First discovered by Europeans in 1811 in the Ilimaussaq intrusive complex in Greenland, sodalite did not become widely important as an ornamental stone until 1891 when vast deposits of fine material were discovered in Ontario, Canada. Structure The structure of sodalite was first studied by Linus Pauling in 1930. It is a cubic mineral of space group P3n ( space group 218) which consists of an aluminosilicate cage network with Na+ cations and chloride anions in the interframework. (There may be small amounts of other cations and anions instead.) This framework forms a zeolite cage structure. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
