Lakargiite

lakargiite

rondorfite

wadalite

reinhardbraunsite

Images

Formula: CaZrO3
Oxide, perovskite subgroup, perovskite supergroup
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 4.587 calculated
Hardness: 8 to 9
Streak: Light brown to cream-white
Colour: Red-brown to yellowish and almost colourless
Common impurities: Sc,Cr,Fe,Ce,La,Hf,Nb,U,Th
Environments

Metamorphic environments

Localities

At the type locality, Xenolith no. 1, Lakargi Mountain, Upper Chegem volcanic caldera, Baksan Valley, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, lakargiite was discovered as an accessory mineral in high-temperature skarns in carbonate-silicate rocks occurring as xenoliths in ignimbrite. Lakargiite forms pseudo-cubic crystals up to 30–35 µm in size and aggregates up to 200 µm, associated with spurrite, larnite, calcio-olivine, calcite, cuspidine, rondorfite, reinhardbraunsite, wadalite, perovskite and minerals of the ellestadite group. The new perovskite mineral belongs to the ternary solid solution lakargiite - perovskite - megawite.
Lakargiite crystallised under sanidinite facies conditions of contact metamorphism characterised by very high temperatures and low pressures (AM 93.1903-1910).
Lakargiite from Lakargi Mountain - Image

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