Thortveitite is a rare
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ...
consisting of
scandium
Scandium is a chemical element with the symbol Sc and atomic number 21. It is a silvery-white metallic d-block element. Historically, it has been classified as a rare-earth element, together with yttrium and the Lanthanides. It was discovere ...
yttrium
Yttrium is a chemical element with the symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a " rare-earth element". Yttrium is almost always found in c ...
silicate (Sc,Y)
2Si
2O
7. It is the primary source of
scandium
Scandium is a chemical element with the symbol Sc and atomic number 21. It is a silvery-white metallic d-block element. Historically, it has been classified as a rare-earth element, together with yttrium and the Lanthanides. It was discovere ...
. Occurrence is in granitic
pegmatite
A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic co ...
s. It was named after
Olaus Thortveit
Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father ...
, a
Norwegian engineer. It is grayish-green, black or gray in color.
A transparent gem quality example was found in 2004, and reported in "The Journal of Gemmology".
See also
*
List of minerals
This is a list of minerals for which there are articles on Wikipedia.
Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various ''species''. Within a m ...
*
List of minerals named after people
This is a list of minerals named after people. The chemical composition follows name.
A
* Abelsonite: C31H32N4Ni – American physicist Philip Hauge Abelson (1913–2004)alfred
* Abswurmbachite: Cu2+Mn3+6O8SiO4 – German mineralogist ...
References
Scandium minerals
Yttrium minerals
Sorosilicates
Monoclinic minerals
Minerals in space group 12
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