Cerite is a complex
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 ...
group containing
cerium
Cerium is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a hardness, soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it ...
, formula .
[http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/ceritece.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy] The cerium and lanthanum content varies with the Ce rich species (cerite-(Ce)) and the La rich species (cerite-(La)). Analysis of a sample from the
Mountain Pass
A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
carbonatite
Carbonatite () is a type of intrusive rock, intrusive or extrusive rock, extrusive igneous rock defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50% carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble and may require geoche ...
gave 35.05% and 30.04% .
[
Cerite was first described in 1803 for an occurrence in Bastnäs in ]Västmanland
Västmanland ( or ) is a historical Swedish province, or , in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland.
Västmanland means "West Man Land" or, less literally, "The Land of the Western Men", where the "we ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
.[http://webmineral.com/data/Cerite-(Ce).shtml Webmineral (Ce)] The lanthanum rich species, cerite-(La) was first described for an occurrence in the Khibina massif, Kola Peninsula
The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...
, 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 ...
in 2002.[http://webmineral.com/data/Cerite-(La).shtml Webmineral (La)]
See also
* Classification of minerals
* List of minerals
This is a list of minerals which have Wikipedia articles.
Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various ''species''. Within a mineral speci ...
References
External links
*
Lanthanide minerals
Iron minerals
Cerium minerals
Nesosilicates
Trigonal minerals
Minerals in space group 161
{{silicate-mineral-stub