Elbrusite

elbrusite

Images

Formula: Ca3(U6+0.5Zr1.5)(Fe3+O4)3
Oxide, bitikleite group, garnet supergroup, uranium- and zirconium- bearing mineral
Crystal System: Isometric
Specific gravity: 4.801 calculated for the empirical formula
Streak: Brown
Colour: Dark brown to black
RADIOACTIVE and nearly completely metamict
Environments

Volcanic igneous environments
Metamorphic environments

Localities

At the type Locality, Xenolith no. 1, Lakargi Mountain, Upper Chegem volcanic caldera, Baksan Valley, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, elbrusite-(Zr), a new uranian garnet within the complex solid solution elbrusite - kimzeyite - toturite was discovered in spurrite zones in skarn xenoliths. Associated minerals are spurrite, rondorfite, wadalite, kimzeyite, perovskite, lakargiite, hydroxylellestadite, hillebrandite, afwillite, hydrocalumite, ettringite group minerals and hydrogrossular. Elbrusite-(Zr) forms grains up to 15 µm in size. It often occurs as zones and spots within Fe3+-dominant kimzeyite crystals up to 30 µm in size (AM 95.8.1172-1181).

Elbrusite from the Lakargi Mountain - Image

Back to Minerals