Yingjiangite is a mineral named after its type locality in the Yingjiang county in 1990. It is a member of the

phosphuranylite Phosphuranylite is a uranyl phosphate mineral with formula KCa(H3O)3(UO2)7(PO4)4O4·8(H2O). It was first described in 1879 by Frederick Augustus Genth, from an occurrence in the Flat Rock pegmatite in Mitchell County, North Carolina Mitchell ...

group.

Chemistry

The mineral is closely related to

group, with some geologists suggesting, the two mineral species may indeed be identical.

Properties

This mineral has

pleochroic Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon in which a substance has different colors when observed at different angles, especially with polarized light. Etymology The roots of the word are from Greek (). It was first made compound in the German term ...

attributes, which is an optical phenomenon that makes the mineral seem to be a different color depending on the axis it is inspected on. On the x axis, the mineral seems to be almost colorless, on the y it is pale yellow, and on the z it can be seen as a yellow mineral. It is also

fluorescent Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...

, meaning that it emits light when exposed to a certain type of light (in most cases ultraviolet), or either when it absorbs

electromagnetic radiation In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is a self-propagating wave of the electromagnetic field that carries momentum and radiant energy through space. It encompasses a broad spectrum, classified by frequency or its inverse, wavelength ...

. The fluorescent attribute of is due to the mineral being uranium based. Both under short and long UV light, it emits a weak yellow green light. Yingjiangite grows in acicular crystals up to a millimeter. It forms aggregates, made of clusters or several individual crystals. It has a fine-grained coating and yellow crusts. A common finding place for the mineral is in uranium deposits, especially in oxidized zones, as it is a uranium and oxygen-based mineral. It is a secondary product in these mines, which in most of the cases contain

uraninite Uraninite, also known as pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2 but because of oxidation typically contains variable proportions of U3O8. Radioactive decay of the uranium c ...

and uranothorite. Yingjiangite mostly consists of uranium (63.90%) and oxygen (25.77%), but otherwise includes phosphorus (4.75%), potassium (4.50%), hydrogen (0.70%) and calcium (0.38%). Due to the high uranium concentration of the mineral, it has a very strong, 4,679,034.10

radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

measured in

Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

. The concentration per GRapi unit of the mineral is 213.72.

References

{{reflist Potassium minerals Calcium minerals Phosphate minerals Uranium minerals Hexahydrate minerals Orthorhombic minerals Minerals described in 1990