Thortveitite

Thortveitite

Thortveitite
General
Category Mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)
(Sc,Y)2Si2O7
Identification
Crystal system orthorhombic
Mohs scale hardness 5-6
Luster vitreous
Streak gray
Specific gravity 3.3-3.8

Thortveitite is a mineral consisting of scandium yttrium silicate (Sc,Y)2Si2O7. It is the primary source of scandium. Occurrence is in granitic pegmatites. It was named after Olaus Thortveit, 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", 2008 Volume 31.

See also

References

    • Webmineral
    • Mindat
    • Riccardo Bianchi, Tullio Pilati, Valeria Diella, Carlo Maria Gramaccioli, and Gregorio Mannucci (1988). "A re-examination of thortveitite" (PDF). American Mineralogist 73: 5–6. 
    • Schumann, Walter (1991). Mineralien aus aller Welt. BLV Bestimmungsbuch (2 ed.). p. 223. ISBN 3-405-14003-X. 
    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, May 16, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.