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Formula: Ba3(PO4)2
Phosphate of barium, tuite group,
palmierite supergroup
Crystal System: Trigonal
Specific gravity: 4.8131 calculated
Hardness: 4½
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless
Environments
Volcanic igneous environments
Metamorphic environments
Localities
At the type locality, the Mazorite type locality, Hatrurim Basin, Tamar Regional Council, Southern District, Israel,
mazorite was discovered in rankinite
paralava hosted by the massive
gehlenite-bearing pyrometamorphic rocks of the
Hatrurim Complex. It has also recently been discovered in xenolith samples from the Bellerberg volcano in Germany.
Holotype mazorite usually forms colourless plate-like crystals up to 100 μm in length but also occurs in small
aggregates in association with other rare barium-bearing minerals such as
zadovite, celsian,
hexacelsian, bennesherite,
sanbornite, walstromite,
fresnoite, gurimite,
alforsite and barioferrite.
Mazorite and other barium-bearing minerals crystallised from a small
portion of residual melt enriched in incompatible elements, such as barium,
vanadium, phosphorous, uranium,
sulphur, titanium and
niobium, at a temperature of about 1000°C
(MM 87.5.679–689).
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