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Charoite
Charoite is a rare silicate mineral, first described in 1978. It was believed to be named after the Chara River, but due to the river being 70 km away from its discovery place, now it is believed to be named after the Russian word ''chary'', meaning magic or charms. When it was discovered, it was thought to be a fake, dyed purple to give it its striking appearance. Properties Charoite is translucent lavender to purple in color with a pearly luster. Charoite is strictly massive in nature, and fractures are conchoidal. It has an unusual swirling, fibrous appearance, sometimes chatoyant, and that, along with its intense color, can lead many to believe at first that it is synthetic or enhanced artificially. Though reportedly discovered in the 1940s, it was not known to most of the world until its description in 1978. It is said to be opaque and unattractive when found in the field; a fact that may have contributed to its late recognition. Charoite consists of oxygen (43.75%), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canasite
Canasite is a mineral whose name is derived from its chemical composition of calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), and silicon (Si). It was approved in 1959 by IMA. Properties It is a relatively rare mineral. It occurs as aggregates in charoite, creating carbochons when contrasted against swirling purple charoite. It is extremely rare for canasite to be faceted. As crystals, it occurs in a size up to 10 cms, but in platy aggregates it can reach up to 20 cms in size. It is also granular. Twinning is usual, and can occur as polysynthetic, which is when multiple twins align in a parallel. It has a barely detectable 1.12% potassium radioactivity based on the GRapi unit (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units). It consists of mostly oxygen (41.98%), silicon (26.8%) and calcium (15.93%), but otherwise contains sodium (7.31%), potassium (6.22%), which gives its radioactive properties, fluorine (1.51%) and hydrogen (0.24%). There are two varieties of canasite: fluorcanasite and frankameni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chara River
, image = 2000 Charoite 613.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river and piece of charoite , pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= Location in the Sakha Republic, Russia , source1_location = Bolshoye Leprindo Lake , source1_coordinates = , source1_elevation = , mouth = Olyokma , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = Olyokma→ , subdivision_type1 = Country , subdivision_name1 = Yakutia, Russia , length = , discharge1_avg = , basin_size = The Chara (russian: Ча́ра; sah, Чаара, ''Çaara'') is a left tributary of the Olyokma in Eastern Siberia, Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Together with the Olyokma, river Chara gives its name to the Olyokma-Chara Plateau (Олёкмо-Чарское плоскогорье), located to the east of its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tinaksite
Tinaksite (chemical formula ) is a mineral found in northern Russia. Tinaksite can be grayish-white, yellowish, orange, or brown, and it is often found in charoite. Its name is derived from its composition: titanium (Ti), sodium (Na) potassium (K) and silicon (Si). The International Mineralogical Association Founded in 1958, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) is an international group of 40 national societies. The goal is to promote the science of mineralogy and to standardize the nomenclature of the 5000 plus known mineral species. Th ... first recognized tinaksite as a mineral in 1965. References External links *{{cite journal , url = http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/zk/vol189/ZK189_195.pdf, title = The crystal structure of tokkoite and its relation to the structure of tinaksite , first1 = I. V. , last1 = Rozhdestvenskaya , first2 = L. V. , last2= Nikishova , first3 = Y. D. , last3 = Lazebnik , first4 = K. A. , last4 = Lazebnik , journal = Zei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murun Massif
Murun (russian: Мурун) is a mountain in the Olyokma-Chara Plateau, at the border of Irkutsk Oblast and Yakutia, Russian Federation. Geography A high summit is the highest point of the Murun Massif in the Olyokma-Chara Plateau, part of the South Siberian mountain system. The massif is about across and rises in the central/southern part of the plateau, above the right bank of the Chara, west of the valley of the Tokko, at the southwestern end of the Sakha Republic, bordering with Irkutsk Oblast, near the tripoint with Zabaykalsky Krai. The mountain is near Torgo, an abandoned settlement in Olyokminsky District. Google Earth The Murun peak is marked as a summit in the O-50 sheet of the Soviet Topographic Map. This same mountain, however, is a peak in the D-7 sheet of the Defense Mapping Agency Navigation charts. The Irkutsk Oblast-Yakutia border runs across the middle of the Murun Massif and the peak rises on the western, or Irkutsk Oblast side. Geology The massif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldan Shield
Aldan Shield (russian: Алданский щит) is a shield in Siberia. It is an exposed basement of the Siberian Craton. Together with the Anabar Shield further to the northwest, the Aldan Shield is one of the main features of the craton. The Aldan Shield geological region coincides geographically with parts of the Aldan Highlands and Olyokma-Chara Plateau, located at the southern end of the Sakha Republic and the eastern end of Irkutsk Oblast. Google Earth The exposed crust parts of the shield date back to the Archean and reflect the first phases of accretion of the crust. They only emerge in a few areas, the eastern and northern sectors of the shield being largely covered by sediments accumulated between the end of the Precambrian and the Cambrian, while in the western and southern regions they have undergone processes of tectonic rejuvenation that have brought about the formation of new structures above and below. On the Aldan Shield there is the only charoite deposit k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chatoyant
In gemology, chatoyancy ( ), or chatoyance or cat's eye effect, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones, woods, and carbon fibre. Coined from the French "œil de chat", meaning "cat's eye", chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material, as in tiger's eye quartz, or from fibrous inclusions or cavities within the stone, as in cat's eye chrysoberyl. Description The precipitates that cause chatoyance in chrysoberyl are the mineral rutile, composed mostly of titanium dioxide. Examined samples have yielded no evidence of tubes or fibres. The rutile precipitates all align perpendicularly with respect to cat's eye effect. It is reasoned that the lattice parameter of the rutile matches only one of the three orthorhombic crystal axes of the chrysoberyl, resulting in preferred alignment along that direction. The effect can be likened to the sheen off a spool of silk: The luminous streak of reflected light is always perpendicular to the direction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silicate Mineral
Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust. In mineralogy, silica (silicon dioxide, ) is usually considered a silicate mineral. Silica is found in nature as the mineral quartz, and its polymorphs. On Earth, a wide variety of silicate minerals occur in an even wider range of combinations as a result of the processes that have been forming and re-working the crust for billions of years. These processes include partial melting, crystallization, fractionation, metamorphism, weathering, and diagenesis. Living organisms also contribute to this geologic cycle. For example, a type of plankton known as diatoms construct their exoskeletons ("frustules") from silica extracted from seawater. The frustules of dead diatoms are a major constituent of deep ocean sediment, and of diatomaceous earth. General structure A silicate mineral is generally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in front of oxygen (32.1% and 30.1%, respectively), forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust. In its metallic state, iron is rare in the Earth's crust, limited mainly to deposition by meteorites. Iron ores, by contrast, are among the most abundant in the Earth's crust, although extracting usable metal from them requires kilns or furnaces capable of reaching or higher, about higher than that required to smelt copper. Humans started to master that process in Eurasia during the 2nd millennium BCE and the use of iron tools and weapons began to displace copper alloys, in some regions, only around 1200 BCE. That event is considered the transition from the Bronze Age to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metasomatism
Metasomatism (from the Greek μετά ''metá'' "change" and σῶμα ''sôma'' "body") is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids. It is the replacement of one rock by another of different mineralogical and chemical composition. The minerals which compose the rocks are dissolved and new mineral formations are deposited in their place. Dissolution and deposition occur simultaneously and the rock remains solid. Synonyms to the word metasomatism are metasomatose and metasomatic process. The word metasomatose can also be used as a name for specific varieties of metasomatism (for example '' Mg-metasomatose'' and '' Na-metasomatose''). Metasomatism can occur via the action of hydrothermal fluids from an igneous or metamorphic source. In the igneous environment, metasomatism creates skarns, greisen, and may affect hornfels in the contact metamorphic aureole adjacent to an intrusive rock mass. In the metamorphic environment, metasomatism is created by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has a great affinity towards oxygen, and Passivation (chemistry), forms a protective layer of Aluminium oxide, oxide on the surface when exposed to air. Aluminium visually resembles silver, both in its color and in its great ability to reflect light. It is soft, Magnetism, non-magnetic and ductility, ductile. It has one stable isotope, 27Al; this isotope is very common, making aluminium the twelfth most common element in the Universe. The radioactivity of Aluminum-26, 26Al is used in Radiometric dating, radiodating. Chemically, aluminium is a post-transition metal in the boron group; as is common for the group, aluminium forms compounds primarily in the +3 oxidation state. The aluminium cation Al3+ is small and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strontium
Strontium is the chemical element with the symbol Sr and atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white yellowish metallic element that is highly chemically reactive. The metal forms a dark oxide layer when it is exposed to air. Strontium has physical and chemical properties similar to those of its two vertical neighbors in the periodic table, calcium and barium. It occurs naturally mainly in the minerals celestine and strontianite, and is mostly mined from these. Both strontium and strontianite are named after Strontian, a village in Scotland near which the mineral was discovered in 1790 by Adair Crawford and William Cruickshank; it was identified as a new element the next year from its crimson-red flame test color. Strontium was first isolated as a metal in 1808 by Humphry Davy using the then newly discovered process of electrolysis. During the 19th century, strontium was mostly used in the production of sugar from sugar beets (see str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels. It improves strength, workability, and resistance to wear. Manganese oxide is used as an oxidising agent; as a rubber additive; and in glass making, fertilisers, and ceramics. Manganese sulfate can be used as a fungicide. Manganese is also an essential human dietary element, important in macronutrient metabolism, bone formation, and free radical defense systems. It is a critical component in dozens of proteins and enzymes. It is found mostly in the bones, but also the liver, kidneys, and brain. In the human brain, the manganese is bound to manganese metalloproteins, most notably glutamine synthetase in astrocytes. Manganese was first isolated in 1774. It is familiar in the laboratory in the form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
