Bystrite is a

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, the crystalline forms of silica (silicon dio ...

with the formula (Na,K)₇Ca(Si₆Al₆)O₂₄S_4.5•(H₂O), and a member of the cancrinite mineral group. It is a

hexagonal In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is d ...

crystal, with a 3m

point group In geometry, a point group is a group (mathematics), mathematical group of symmetry operations (isometry, isometries in a Euclidean space) that have a Fixed point (mathematics), fixed point in common. The Origin (mathematics), coordinate origin o ...

. The mineral may have been named after the Malaya Bystraya deposits in Russia, where it was found. Bystrite is a cancrinite mineral and exhibits similar physical properties, composition and structure as other cancrinites.

Structure

Bystrite has a structure that is shared with many of the minerals in the cancrinite group. It exhibits a hexagonal crystal structure with a 3m point group. Bystrite also has a P31c space group. The structure of bystrite could not be easily found due to the mineral exhibiting a strong pseudotranslation, therefore, mineralogists made a model to find out the internal structure of the bystrite mineral, the idea was based on analyzing the tetrahedral frameworks of cancrinite minerals, and it did yield accurate results in predicting the structure of the mineral. Bolotina et al. (2004)

Geologic occurrence

The most studied sample of the mineral was found in the Malaya Bystraya deposit in Russia. Bystrite occurs in lazurite deposits, and is usually associated with lazurite,

calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

, and

diopside Diopside is a monoclinic pyroxene mineral with composition . It forms complete solid solution series with hedenbergite () and augite, and partial solid solutions with orthopyroxene and pigeonite. It forms variably colored, but typically dull ...

.Kretz, Ralph. (2001) Bystrite (Na, K)7Ca(Si6Al6)O24S1.5.H2O. Mineral Data Publishing, 1.2. The mineral is not very widely spread, either that or it has not been really searched for due to the lack of importance or significance. There is only one bystrite deposit that was mentioned in the literature, and that deposit is found in the Malaya Bystraya lazurite deposit located to the west of Slyudyanka, and just south of

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Literature survey

The first paper addressing Bystrite was by Sapozhnikov, et al. and was originally written in Russian, but mineral data publishing translated most of the important information to English in 2001.Sapozhnikov, A.N., V.G. Ivanov, L.F. Piskunova, A.A. Kashaev, L.E. Terentieva, and E.A. Pobedimskaya. (1991) Bystrite Ca(Na, K)7(Si6Al6O24)(S3)1.5.H2O - A new cancrinite-like mineral. Zap. Vses. Mineral. Obshch., 120(3), 97-100. Referenced in Kretz, Ralph. (2001) Bystrite (Na, K)7Ca(Si6Al6)O24S1.5.H2O. Mineral Data Publishing, 1.2.

References

{{Reflist Cancrinite group Trigonal minerals Minerals in space group 159