How do I identify Vlasovite?

Vlasovite can be identified by its hardness of 6 on the Mohs scale, Colorless color. Look for these key characteristics when examining specimens.

What color is Vlasovite?

Vlasovite typically appears in Colorless, honey-brown. Color can vary depending on impurities and formation conditions.

How hard is Vlasovite?

Vlasovite has a hardness of 6 on the Mohs scale. This gives it moderate hardness.

Vlasovite

A variety of Minerals

What is Vlasovite?

Vlasovite is a rare inosilicate (chain silicate) mineral with sodium and zirconium, with the chemical formula Na2ZrSi4O11. It was discovered in 1961 at Vavnbed Mountain in the Lovozero Massif, in the Northern Region of Russia. The researchers who first identified it, R P Tikhonenkova and M E Kazakova, named it for Kuzma Aleksevich Vlasov (1905–1964), a Russian mineralogist and geochemist who studied the Lovozero massif, and who was the founder of the Institute of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Elements, Moscow, Russia.

Vlasovite Market Value Calculator

Estimate the market value of Vlasovite using size, quality, and finish. This preview calculator is for quick context and is not a formal appraisal.

Vlasovite Localities Map

See where Vlasovite is found with a localities map, collecting zones, and geology context. Generate a sample map preview below.

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North ZoneCentral RidgeSouth Basin

Key Characteristics

Characteristics of Vlasovite

Crystals have been found up to 15 cm long, but vlasovite occurs more commonly as irregularly shaped grains and aggregates. It shows distinct cleavage parallel to the plane containing the a and c crystal axes, and this plane can also be a twin plane, although twinning is uncommon. Vlasovite is a brittle mineral, with an irregular to conchoidal fracture, hardness 6 and specific gravity 2.97. It is nearly insoluble in hydrochloric acid HCl and nitric acid HNO3, but it dissolves easily in a mixture of hydrofluoric acid, HF, and sulfuric acid H2SO4.

Composition of Vlasovite

At temperatures below 29 °C the stable form of vlasovite is triclinic 1, space group P1. Above 29 °C the stable form is monoclinic 2/m. Most sources simply give it as monoclinic 2/m, space group C2/c. The silicate part of the structure is a chain composed of rings of four SiO4 tetrahedra linked by sharing a corner oxygen to form a chain of composition [Si4O11]. These chains of tetrahedra link together with zirconium, Zr, octahedra to form a framework with channels extending along [001], parallel to the c crystal axis. The channels contain the sodium, Na, atoms.