Images
Formula: UO4.2H2O
Oxide
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 4.67 calculated
Streak: Light yellow
Colour: Light yellow
Solubility: Soluble in hot hydrochloric acid
RADIOACTIVE
Environments
Sedimentary environments
Hydrothermal environments
Metastudtite is an extremely rare secondary mineral,
formed by dehydration of studtite and found on museum specimens of
dolomite and uraninite, from the
oxidised zone of a uranium deposit. It contains a peroxide group (O2)2- in its crystal
structure. Associated minerals include uraninite,
uranophane, soddyite,
uranopilite, fourmarierite,
wolsendorfite, rutherfordine,
becquerelite, masuyite and
kasolite
(HOM).
Localities
At the type locality, the Shinkolobwe Mine, Shinkolobwe, Kambove District, Haut-Katanga, DR Congo,
The first sample is a grey brecciated and deeply altered
dolostone. The surface is almost completely covered with a coating in
which the following minerals have been identified: grey fibres of
rutherfordine, prismatic tablets of amber yellow
becquerelite, red pseudohexagonal crystals of
masuyite, red-orange short crystals of
kasolite and red microcrystals of
wölsendorfite; two small radiated nodules of metastudtite, about
1.2 mm in diameter, occur on the wölsendorfite.
The second sample is a massive block of purple black uraninite, with one
face covered with a yellow coating mainly composed of needles of uranophane
and short crystals of soddyite. A few aggregates of silky, pale yellow fibres
of metastudtite up to 3 mm in length are mixed with the uranophane. A
few orange nodules of kasolite and powdered yellow
uranopilite complete the association
(AM 68.456-458).
Back to Minerals