Britholite-(Ce)

britholite-(Ce)

zircon

titanite

vesuvianite

Images

Formula: (Ce,Ca)5(SiO4)3(OH)
Nesosilicate (insular SiO4 groups), britholite group, apatite supergroup
Crystal System: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 4.20 to 4.69 measured, 4.65 calculated
Hardness: 5½
Colour: Colourless, pale pink to pink, pale blue, brown, greenish brown, yellow, resin-brown, black
Strongly RADIOACTIVE
Environments

Plutonic igneous environments
Pegmatites
Metamorphic environments

Britholite-(Ce) is typically thorium-bearing and often metamict. (Mindat).
It occurs in nepheline syenites and pegmatites, and in contact deposits related to them. Associated minerals include zircon, pyrochlore, titanite, fluorite, diopside, andradite, allanite and vesuvianite (HOM).

Localities

At the Papanduva pluton, Morro Redondo complex, Tijucas do Sul, Paraná, Brazil, minerals that have been reported include chevkinite, allanite, aenigmatite, astrophyllite, narsarsukite, nacareniobsite-(Ce), britholite-(Ce), turkestanite, neptunite, elpidite and bastnäsite (CM 51.313-332).

At the type locality, Naujakasik, Tunulliarfik Fjord, Ilímaussaq complex, Kujalleq, Greenland, britholite-(Ce) occurs as brown, apparently hexagonal, prisms embedded in a nepheline syenite pegmatite matrix. Associated minerals include steenstrupine-(Ce), sodalite, nepheline, feldspar, eudialyte, arfvedsonite and aegirine (Mindat).

At the San Vito Quarry, San Vito, Ercolano, Mount Somma, Somma-Vesuvius Complex, Naples, Campania, Italy, britholite-(Ce) occurs as 0.2 mm transparent pale blue hexagonal tabular crystals in volcanic ejecta, mainly composed of sanidine (EJM 1.723-725).

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