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Formula: Ca3TiSi2(Fe3+2Si)O14
Unclassified silicate, titanium-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Trigonal
Specific gravity: 3.48 calculated for the empirical formula
Hardness: 6
Streak: Yellowish white
Colour: Light brown with a red hue
Magnetism: Not magnetic
Environments
Volcanic igneous environments
Metamorphic environments
Qeltite is a new mineral, approved in 2021.
Localities
At the Halamish wadi, Hatrurim Basin, Tamar Regional Council, Southern District, Israel, qeltite was found in
gehlenite – wollastonite –
titanium-bearing andradite
paralava, which also contains a significant amount of
fluorapatite –
fluorellestadite minerals.
Andradite and åkermanite are minor
minerals, and khesinite,
barioferrite,
magnesioferrite, dorrite and
perovskite are accessory minerals in this rock
(MM 88.335–344).
At Road no. 31, Hatrurim Basin, Tamar Regional Council, Southern District, Israel, a
rankinite – gehlenite –
titanium - bearing andradite
paralava containing qeltite and its
titanium analogue is found.
Wollastonite, kalsilite and
åkermanite are occasionally observed in this
paralava. Barioferrite,
magnesioferrite, perovskite,
khesinite, fluorapatite,
aradite, gurimite and
barium – uranium -
perovskite are accessory minerals
(MM 88.335–344).
At the type locality, Nabi Musa, Jericho Governorate, West Bank, Palestine, qeltite was found in
gehlenite – rankinite
paralava within the pyrometamorphic Hatrurim Complex. Rocks of the
Complex are represented mainly by spurrite and
fluorapatite marbles,
gehlenite, larnite and
spurrite rocks. Paralavas of
different composition occur within pyrometamorphic rocks of the Complex, among them
gehlenite – wollastonite –
rankinite oxidised paralavas,
in which qeltite was discovered and which contain only Fe3+-bearing minerals. Rarely, reduced
phosphide-bearing gehlenite and
diopside paralavas are
encountered.
The Nabi Musa locality is a huge crater-like structure. A massive,
brecciated fragment of pyrometamorphic rocks, mainly
larnite, gehlenite and
spurrite, is embedded in altered rock represented by
zeolitic and calcium silicate hydrated rocks. Small
paralava bodies form veins and nests up to 0.15 m long.
Paralava containing qeltite is composed of
rankinite, gehlenite, rarer
wollastonite, titanium-bearing
andradite and kalsilite. Minerals
of the khesinite - dorrite series,
barioferrite, minerals of
magnesioferrite – magnetite
– maghemite series, hematite,
silicon-bearing perovskite, silicon –
vanadium - bearing fluorapatite,
gurimite, hexacelsian and an
unidentified calcium – uranium - silicate are accessory minerals.
Baryte, hydrated calcium silicates such as
tobermorite, afwillite,
tacharanite and a fabrièsite -
like mineral are later, hydrothermal minerals.
Qeltite generally forms aggregates of flattened crystals up to 50 μm in length and less than 5 μm in thickness.
These aggregates occur in small enclaves 100–200 μm in size in rankinite.
Rarely, tabular qeltite crystals with inclusions of fluorapatite
and hematite more than 100 μm in length and ∼10 μm in thickness are noted
(MM 88.335–344).
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