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Symbol: Be
Beryllium does not occur in the native state.
Its abundance in the Earth's crust is 2.8 parts per million by mass, 4.6 parts per million by moles
(ChC). It is the 47th most abundant element in the Earth's crust by mass.
Among the common rock-forming minerals, beryllium content is generally highest in white
micas, mostly muscovite, which contain
up to 10 ppm beryllium, and cordierite. The principal source materials
for the granites that spawn beryllium-bearing
pegmatites are the
clay and mica-rich marine sediments that
form shale. Micas remain abundant
through metamorphism up to the high metamorphic grade that produces schists.
When such schists reach the pressure-temperature conditions at which they
begin to melt, the white micas decompose over a narrow range of temperature,
transferring some of their trace elements, including beryllium, to the magmas so formed.
Muscovite-rich schists may
generate granite magmas containing about 6 ppm beryllium. The
processes that crystallise granite and
lead to the formation of pegmatites may enrich beryllium
sufficiently to saturate the pegmatite-forming magmas in
beryl. The beryllium content of a few notable
beryl-rich pegmatites
can be as high as 205 ppm beryllium
(R&M 90.2.138-153).
Beryllium-bearing minerals include:
Oxides
bromellite
chrysoberyl
ferrotaaffeite-6N'3S
magnesiotaaffeite
Hydroxides
behoite
clinobehoite
Borates
berborite
hambergite
Phosphates
faheyite
hydroxylherderite
roscherite
tiptopite
zanazziite
Arsenites
asbecasite
Nesosilicates
beryllite
euclase
gadolinite
hingganite
liberite
Sorosilicates
barylite
bertrandite
leucophanite
Cyclosilicates
bazzite
beryl
Inosilicates
bavenite
bohseite
epididymite
eudidymite
Phyllosilicates
badakhshanite-(Y)
bityite
Tectosilicates
danalite
helvine
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