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Formula: Y(PO4)
Phosphate of yttrium,
xenotime group, forms a series with
xenotime-(Yb) and with
chernovite-(Y),
zircon is an epitaxial mineral (Mindat)
Crystal System: Tetragonal
Specific gravity: 4.4 to 5.1 measured, 4.277 calculated
Hardness: 4 to 5
Streak: Pale brown, yellowish or reddish, white
Colour: Yellowish brown, reddish brown, light red, flesh-red, light green, grey, greyish white, wine-yellow. Colourless
to very light yellowish green, yellow or yellowish brown in transmitted light (Mindat)
Solubility: Very lightly attacked by acids
Environments
Igneous environments
Pegmatites
Metamorphic environments
Localities
At Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, Quebec, Canada, xenotime-(Y) is an exceedingly rare accessory mineral found in
small cavities in
albite schist hosting
anatase- and brookite- bearing
Alpine fissures. It's
only associate here is chamosite
(R&M 85.6.508-509).
At the Monte Cervandone area, Devero Alp, Baceno, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province, Piedmont, Italy, both
xenotime and its arsenic analogue
chernovite found in the region contain
considerable amounts of the rare-earth elements in substitution for
yttrium. Because arsenic prevailed
hugely over phosphorous in the original hydrothermal solutions, xenotime is much rarer than
chernovite, although it occurs fairly commonly on the western side of
the Kriegalptal, in gneiss. Yellow to greenish, short-prismatic
crystals of xenotime-(Y) are found very sparingly elsewhere; the largest known crystals, to 8 mm, have come
from the southern and western slopes of Monte Cervandone, with hematite,
rutile, monazite,
synchysite and
chernovite
(MinRec 56.3.320).
At the type locality, Hidra, Flekkefjord, Agder, Norway, xenotime-(Y) occurs in a
granite
pegmatite
(Mindat).
Xenotime-(Y) from Hidra - Image
In the Wassau Complex pegmatites, Marathon county, Wisconsin, USA, xenotime-(Y) has been found in
a greisen assemblage associated with
cassiterite,
ferberite-hübnerite and
topaz
(R&M 88-4.361-362).
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