Béhierite

Béhierite

Béhierite

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Béhierite is a very rare mineral,[2] a natural tantalum borate of the formula (Ta,Nb)BO4.[4][3] Béhierite is also one of the most simple tantalum minerals. It contains simple tetrahedral borate anions, instead of more common among minerals, planar BO3 groups. It forms a solid solution with its niobium-analogue, schiavinatoite. Both have zircon-type structure (tetragonal, space group I41/amd) and are found in pegmatites.[3] Béhierite and holtite are minerals with essential tantalum and boron.[5]

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Béhierite was named for Jean Béhier (1903–1965), who discovered the mineral in 1959, as a French mineralogist, active in the Service Géologique, on the island of Madagascar.[3]

Occurrence and association

Béhierite occurs in granitic pegmatites in Manjaka and Antsongombato, Madagascar. Associated minerals are albite, manganese-bearing apatite-group mineral, lepidolite, elbaite or elbaite–liddicoatite, feldspar, pollucite, quartz, rhodizite, and schiavinatoite.[2]

Crystal structure

Crystal structure of synthetic TaBO4 was refined by Range et al. (1996).[6] As béhierite is analogous to schiavinatoite, their crystal structures are expected to be similar.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.43. S2CID 235729616.
  2. [2]
    "Béhierite (Ta,Nb)BO4 - Handbook of Mineralogy" (PDF). Handbookofmineralogy.org. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  3. [3]
    "Béhierite: Béhierite mineral information and data". Mindat.org. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  4. [4]
    Mrose, M.E., and Rose, H.J., 1961. Behierite, (Ta,Nb)BO4, a new mineral from Manjaka, Madagascar. Geological Society of America, Abstracts Annual Meetings 1961, 111A-111A
  5. [5]
    "Holtite: Holtite mineral information and data". Mindat.org. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  6. [6]
    Range, K.J., Wildenauer, M., and Andratschke, M., 1996. Crystal structure of tantalum orthoborate, TaBO4. Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, 211-215
  7. [7]
    Demartin, F., Diella, V., Gramaccioli, C.M., and Pezzotta, F., 2001. Schiavinatoite, (Nb,Ta)BO4, the Nb analogue of behierite. European Journal of Mineralogy 13, 159-165
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