Kristiansenite, a new calcium–scandium–tin sorosilicate from granite pegmatite in Tørdal, Telemark, Norway

Kristiansenite occurs as a late hydrothermal mineral in vugs in an amazonite pegmatite at Heftetjern, Tørdal, Telemark, Norway. Tapering crystals, rarely up to 2 mm long, are colourless, white, or slightly yellowish. The mineral has the ideal composition Ca₂ScSn(Si₂O₇)(Si₂O₆OH) and is triclinic C1 with cell parameters a = 10.028(1), b = 8.408(1), c = 13.339(2) Å, α = 90.01(1), β = 109.10(1), γ = 90.00(1)°, V = 1062.7(3) ų (Z = 4). It has a monoclinic cell within ∼ 0.1 Å and is polysynthetically twinned on {010} by metric merohedry. The strongest reflections in the X-ray powder pattern are [d in Å, (I _obs), (hkl)]: 5.18 (53) (1–11), 3.146 (100) (004), 3.089 (63) (−222), 2.901 (19) (221), 2.595 (34) (222), 2.142 (17) (−3–31). The Mohs’ hardness is 5½–6; D_calc. = 3.64 g/cm³; only a mean refractive index of 1.74 could be measured. Scandium enrichment in the Heftetjern pegmatite and the crystal chemistry of scandium are briefly discussed.

Authors and Affiliations

1.  Geologisk Museum, Universitetet i Oslo, Norway, , , , , , NO

   G. Raade

2.  Dipartimento di Scienze Mineralogiche e Petrologiche, Università di Torino, Italy, , , , , , IT

   G. Ferraris, A. Gula & G. Ivaldi

3.  Institut für Mineralogie und Petrologie, Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz, Austria, , , , , , AT

   F. Bernhard

Received April 30, 2001; accepted July 28, 2001

Reprints and permissions