Baratovite

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Formula: KLi₃Ca₇Ti₂(SiO₃)₁₂F₂
Cyclosilicate (ring silicate), lithium- and titanium- bearing mineral
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 2.92 measured, 2.91 calculated
Hardness: 5 to 6
Streak: White
Colour: White, colourless, pink
Common impurities: Fe,Nb,Mn,Na
Environments

Plutonic igneous environments

Localities

At the type locality, the Dara-i-Pioz Glacier, Districts of Republican Subordination, Tajikistan, baratovite occurs as platy aggregates, associated with miserite, ekanite and titanite, in quartz-albite-aegirine veinlets and in albitites in syenites of the alkalic massif (AM 61.1053).
Metasomatic rocks at Dara-i-Pioz contain a great variety of rare silicates enriched in lithium, boron, fluorine and incompatible elements. One such is a quartz - albite - aegirine rock that is assumed to be a product of metasomatic alteration of an alkaline syenite parent. The bulk of the rock, an assemblage of aegirine - hedenbergite, albite, microcline and fluorapatite, formed during an albitisation event. Unusual potassium-calcium silicates that crystallised during this stage include baratovite, miserite and turkestanite. Indications are that the rock underwent deformation during the late stages of crystallisation, causing fracturing of the rock that facilitated circulation of a relatively low-temperature fluid enriched in boron, fluorine, titanium and incompatible elements. The fluid precipitated datolite, fluorite, quartz and a rich diversity of rare minerals (CM 37.1369-138).

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