Wodginite

Wodginite is a manganese, tin, tantalum oxide mineral with formula Mn2+(Sn,Ta)Ta2O8. It may include significant niobium.[1][2]

Wodginite
Wodginite over cassiterite
General
CategoryOxide - Tantalate mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)
Mn2+(Sn,Ta)Ta2O8
Strunz classification4.DB.40
Dana classification08.01.08.01
Crystal systemMonoclinic
Crystal classPrismatic (2/m)
(same H-M symbol)
Space groupC2/c (no. 15)
Identification
ColorReddish brown, dark brown to black
Crystal habitFlattened dipyramidal to prismatic crystals in radiating groups; granular, massive.
TwinningVery common as penetration twins
Cleavagenone
FractureIrregular
TenacityBrittle
Mohs scale hardness5.5
LusterSub-metallic
StreakBrown
DiaphaneityOpaque, translucent in thin fragments
Specific gravity7.19–7.36
References[1][2][3][4]

Background

Wodginite was first described in 1963 for an occurrence in the Wodgina pegmatite, Wodgina, Pilbara Region, Western Australia.[3]

Typical occurrence of Wodginite occurs in zoned pegmatites in amphibolite. It is associated with tantalite, albite, quartz, muscovite, tapiolite, microlite and microcline.[1]

It occurs in pegmatites in a wide variety of locations. The most studied is the Tanco pegmatite in Manitoba, Canada; also in Red Lake, Ontario. It is reported from the Strickland quarry, Portland, Middlesex County, Connecticut; the Herbb #2 pegmatite, Powhatan County, Virginia; the McAllister mine, Rockford, Coosa County, Alabama; the Peerless mine, Pennington County, South Dakota. Also from Paraíba and Minas Gerais, Brazil; Krasonice, Czech Republic; Orivesi, Finland; Kalba, eastern Kazakhstan; Ankole, Uganda; Miami district, Zimbabwe and Karibib and Kohero, Namibia.[1][3]

The figure shows, that the columbite group (including tantalite) and wodginite can be seen as a superstructure of ixiolite.[5]

References

  1. Handbook of Mineralogy
  2. Webmineral data
  3. Mindat.org
  4. Ercit, T.S.; Hawthorne, F.C.; Cerny, P. (1992). "The wodginite group. I. Structural crystallography". The Canadian Mineralogist. 30: 597–611. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  5. Ercit, T. S.; Hawthorne, F.; Cerny, P. (1992). "The wodginite group: I. structural crystallography". Canadian Mineralogist. 30: 597–611.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.