Titanium

titanium

paulkerrite

coesite

kyanite

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Formula: Ti
Native element
Specific gravity: 4.503
Hardness: 4
Streak: Greyish black
Colour: Silver-grey
Melting point: 1,668^oC
Boiling point: 3,287^oC
Abundance: In the Earth’s crust, 0.56% by mass, 0.25% by moles; in the Solar System, 4 parts per million by mass, 100 parts per billion by moles (ChC). It is the 9th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, by mass.
Environments

Plutonic igneous environments
Metamorphic environments
Fumeroles

Two forms of native titanium have been found; the first, found in granite, crystallises in the hexagonal system, and the second occurs as minute inclusions in garnet from an ultra high pressure metamorphic complex, and crystallises in the tetragonal system (Mindat); also as microscopic inclusions in coesite eclogites (Webmin).

Localities

At the type locality, Orebody 31, Luobusha Mine, Qusum county, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet, China, titanium has been found in chromitite associated with kyanite and coesite (Mindat).

At the Great Fissure eruption, Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka Krai, Russia, hexagonal titanium has been described from fumaroles (Mindat).

Titanium has been recovered from heavy-mineral separates prepared from granite taken from the margin of the Bezymyannyy pluton, eastern Yakutia, USSR. The separates also contain native tin, lead, copper, iron, zinc, nickel, gold, aluminum and tin-antimony and copper-zinc compounds (AM 76.1435).

Titanium-bearing minerals include:

Borides - borides are usually covalent rather than ionic
Silicides - the silicide anion is Si^4-
Phosphides - the phosphide ion is P^3-
Oxides - the oxide anion is O^2-
Carbonates - the carbonate anion is (CO₃)^2-
Monoborates - with a single boron anion (BO₃)^3- or B(O,OH)₄
Sulphates - the sulphate anion is (SO₄)^2-
Phosphates - the phosphate anion is (P⁵⁺O₄)^3-
Arsenates - the arsenate anion is (As⁵⁺O₄)^3-
Vanadates - the vanadate anion is (V⁵⁺O₄)^3-
Antimonites - the antimonite anion is (Sb³⁺O₃)^3-
Arsenites - the arsenite anion is (As³⁺O₃)^3-
Nesosilicates - insular (Si⁴⁺O₄)^4- groups
Sorosilicates - (Si⁴⁺₂O₇)^6- groups
Cyclosilicates - (Si⁴⁺_nO_3n)^2n-
Inosilicates - Single Chain - (Si⁴⁺_nO_3n)^2n-
Inosilicates - Double Chain - (Si⁴⁺_4nO_11n)^6n-
Phyllosilicates - (Si⁴⁺₂O₅)^2- groups
Unclassified silicates

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