Dollaseite-(ce)

Dollaseite-(Ce) is a sorosilicate end-member epidote mineral and was discovered by Gajer (1927) in the Ostanmossa mine, Norberg district, Sweden, the mineral wrongly named "magnesium orthite" after Gajer himself was renamed after the structure refinement made to the mineral by Peacor and Dunn (1988) led to the proper classification. The name dollaseite-(Ce) was chosen in honor of Wayne Dollase, who performed broad research on the epidote-group minerals. The original confusion of the mineral's composition was because of a complex atomic composition where an exchange of cations leads to a form of dollaseite-(Ce) that at first glimpse resembles an Mg analogue of allanite, now known as dissakisite-(Ce). Dollaseite-(Ce), although not very well known is part of a broad group of minerals, the epidote group which are primarily silicates, the most abundant type of minerals on earth. Dollaseite-(Ce) forms as dark-brown subhedral crystals primarily in Swedish mines. With the ideal chemical formula, CaREEMg2AlSi3O11,(OH)F, dollaseite-(Ce) can be partially identified by its content of the rare earth element cerium.