Grossite is a calcium aluminium

oxide mineral The oxide mineral class includes those minerals in which the oxide anion (O2−) is bonded to one or more metal alloys. The hydroxide-bearing minerals are typically included in the oxide class. Minerals with complex anion groups such as the sil ...

with formula CaAl₄O₇. It is a colorless to white vitreous mineral which crystallizes in the

monoclinic In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three Vector (geometric), vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in t ...

crystal system In crystallography, a crystal system is a set of point groups (a group of geometric symmetries with at least one fixed point). A lattice system is a set of Bravais lattices (an infinite array of discrete points). Space groups (symmetry groups ...

.Mindat.org
/ref>Webmineral data
/ref> Grossite was first described 1994 for an occurrence in the Hatrurim Formation of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. It was named for Shulamit Gross (1923–2012) of the Geological Survey of Israel.Handbook of Mineralogy
/ref> It occurs within high temperature

metamorphosed Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

impure

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

of the Hatrurim Formation and also within calcium-aluminium rich inclusions in

chondritic meteorite A chondrite is a stony (non-metallic) meteorite that has not been modified by either melting or differentiation of the parent body. They are formed when various types of dust and small grains in the early Solar System accreted to form primit ...

s. Associated minerals in the Hatrurium include

brownmillerite Brownmillerite is a rare oxide mineral with chemical formula . It is named for Lorrin Thomas Brownmiller (1902–1990), chief chemist of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, Easton, Pennsylvania. Discovery and occurrence The chemical compound was ...

mayenite Chlormayenite (after Mayen, Germany), Ca12Al14O32 ��4Cl2 is a rare calcium aluminium oxide mineral of cubic symmetry. It was originally reported from Eifel volcanic complex (Germany) in 1964. It is also found at Pyrometamorphism, pyrometamorp ...

and larnite. In meteorites it occurs with

perovskite Perovskite (pronunciation: ) is a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate (chemical formula ). Its name is also applied to the class of compounds which have the same type of crystal structure as , known as the perovskite (stru ...

melilite Melilite refers to a mineral of the melilite group. Minerals of the group are solid solutions of several endmembers, the most important of which are gehlenite and åkermanite. A generalized formula for common melilite is ( Ca, Na)2( Al, Mg ...

, hibonite,

spinel Spinel () is the magnesium/aluminium member of the larger spinel group of minerals. It has the formula in the cubic crystal system. Its name comes from the Latin word , a diminutive form of ''spine,'' in reference to its pointed crystals. Prop ...

and calcium rich

pyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated Px) are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents ions of calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron ( ...

References

{{Meteorites Oxide minerals Monoclinic minerals Minerals in space group 15 Meteorite minerals

See also

References