Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Chevkinite-(Ce) is a complex oxide of calcium, thorium, iron, magnesium, titanium, iron but also of rare earths. One of these rare earths is the cerium (or Ce), which gives its name to this cerium-bearing variety of chevkinite. This mineral is formed in alkaline granites, syenites and in some pegmatites that are rich in titanium and rare earths.

Chevkinite-(Ce) is a variably metamict mineral: this term is used to define the minerals which undergo a destruction of their crystalline structure because of the radiation damage generated by the radioactive elements they contain (here, primarily thorium). One finds the chevkinite-(Ce) associated with quartz, titanite and monazite-(Ce).

The crystals are opaque with an earthy luster, they are of brown-reddish colour with black. They are lamellate, lenticular even prismatic of small size, but generally they are massive.

Among the known deposits, one can quote in USA, the counties of Belford and Nelson in Virginia, the Aquarius Mounts in Arizona; in Russia, the Ilmen Mounts.

In 1915, Alfred Lacroix (1863-1948), professor at our Muséum in Paris, wrote a memorable study on various chevkinites-(Ce) discovered in the area of Tordendrika-Ifasina to Madagascar.

The type of this species is kept at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris (samples HT/CT 115105 and 98965), originating from syenites of the head-frame number 17 in Miask (or Miass, Ilmeny Range or Chelyabinsk in Russia) and published in 1839.

Chevkinite (Ce)

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Mineralogy