Images
Formula: Al
Element, iron group, allotrope of
aluminium, that belongs to the
nickel group
Crystal System: Isometric
Specific gravity: 5.52 calculated
Common impurities: Ni, Fe
Environments
Metamorphic environments
Meteorites
Steinhardtite is a relatively new mineral, approved in 2014 and to date (February 2025) reported only from
the type locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Khatyrka meteorite, Iomrautvaam massif, Anadyrsky District, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,
Russia, steinhardtite is an allotropic form of aluminum. It occurs
as rare crystals up to ~10 microns across in meteoric
fragments that contain evidence of a heterogeneous distribution of pressures and temperatures during impact shock,
in which some portions of the carbonaceous chondrite
meteorite reached at least 5 GPa and 1200°C. The meteorite
fragments contain the high-pressure phases ahrensite,
coesite, stishovite and an
unnamed spinelloid with composition
Fe3–xSixO4 (x ~ 0.4). Other minerals include
trevorite, nickel -
aluminium - magnesium - iron
spinels, magnetite,
diopside, forsterite,
clinoenstatite, nepheline,
pentlandite, copper-bearing
troilite, icosahedrite,
khatyrkite, cupalite,
taenite and aluminium-bearing
taenite
(AM 99.2433-2436).
Back to Minerals