Taenite is a
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...
found naturally on Earth mostly in
iron meteorites. It is an
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...
of
iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
and
nickel, with a chemical formula of and nickel proportions of 20% up to 65%.
The name is derived from the Greek ταινία for "band, ribbon". Taenite is a major constituent of
iron meteorites. In
octahedrite
Octahedrites are the most common Iron meteorite#Structural classification, structural class of iron meteorites. The structures occur because the meteoric iron has a certain nickel concentration that leads to the exsolution of kamacite out of tae ...
s it is found in bands interleaving with
kamacite forming
Widmanstätten patterns, whereas in
ataxites it is the dominant constituent. In octahedrites a fine intermixture with
kamacite can occur, which is called
plessite.
Taenite is one of four known Fe-Ni meteorite minerals: The others are kamacite,
tetrataenite, and
antitaenite.
Properties
It is opaque with a metallic grayish to white color. The structure is isometric-hexoctahedral (
cubic). Its density is around 8 g/cm
3 and hardness is 5 to 5.5 on the
Mohs scale
The Mohs scale ( ) of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material.
The scale was introduced in 1812 by the Ger ...
. Taenite is
magnetic, in contrast to antitaenite. The structure is isometric-hexoctahedral (
cubic). The crystal lattice has the c≈a=.
The
Strunz classification is I/A.08-20, while the
Dana classification is 1.1.11.2.
Meteorite localities with taenite
*
Campo del Cielo strewn field in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
.
*
Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
*
Canyon Diablo in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
.
See also
*
Glossary of meteoritics
*
List of minerals
References
*Mason B., 1962: ''Meteorites''. J. Wiley & Sons, New York
{{Meteorites
Iron minerals
Nickel minerals
Meteorite minerals
Magnetic minerals
Cubic minerals
Minerals in space group 225
Native element minerals
Nickel alloys
Ferroalloys