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Xenotime
Current inventory:  0 gems
 

Chemistry:  YPo₄  [Yttrium Phosphate]

Discovered in 1832;   IMA status: Valid (pre-IMA; Grandfathered).
Xenotime is named from the Greek words xenos for foreign and time for honour because the Yttrium contained in Xenotime had been mistaken for a new element.

Classification

Mineral Classification:

Phosphates

Strunz 8th Ed. ID:

7/A.14-10

Nickel-Strunz 10th Ed. ID:

8.AD.35

8 : PHOSPHATES, ARSENATES, VANADATES
A : Phosphates, etc. without additional anions, without H₂O
D : With only large cations

Related to:

Xenotime Group. Xenotime-(Y) - Wakefieldite-(Ce) Series. Chermovite-(y) - Xenotime Series. Isostructural with Zircon.

Crystal Data

Crystallography:

Tetragonal - Ditetragonal Dipyramidal

Crystal Habit:

Short to long prismatic crystals, may be pyramidal, equant, several other minor forms noted, to 5 cm. In radial or rosettelike aggregates of coarse crystals.

Twinning:

On [111], rare

Physical Properties

Cleavage:

[100] Perfect

Fracture:

Uneven to Spintery

Tenacity:

Brittle

Hardness (Mohs):

4.0 - 5.0

Density:

4.40 - 5.10 (g/cm³)

Luminescence:

May exhibit yellow cathodoluminescence.

Radioactivity:

Not Radioactive

Other:

Paramagnetic

Optical Properties

Color:

Yellowish Brown, Greenish Brown, Gray, Reddish Brown, Brown

Transparency:

Opaque to Translucent

Luster:

Vitreous, Resinous, Greasy

Refractive Index:

1.720 - 1.827   Uniaxial ( + )

Birefringence:

0.0950

Dispersion:

None

Pleochroism:

Weakly Dichroic; O = pink, yellow, or yellowish brown; E = brownish yellow, grayish brown, greenish.

Occurances

Geological Setting:

An accessory mineral in alkalic to granitic rocks, well-developed in associated pegmatites; in gneiss and Alpine veins; a common detrital mineral in placers.

Common Associations:

Allanite, Anatase, Apatite, Brookite, Gadolinite, Hematite, Ilmenite, Monazite, Rutile, Thorite, Yttrotantalite, Zircon

Type Locality:

Hidra (Hitterø), Flekkefjord, Vest-Agder, Norway

Year Discovered:

1832

View mineral photos:

Xenotime Mineral Photos and Locations

More Information

Mindat.org
Webmineral.com

Xenotime is found in several localities throughout the world but gem quality crystals are very rare. It is one of the very few Yttrium minerals known to science.
 

  
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