thoreaulite Min.
(ˈθɒrəʊlaɪt)
[a. F. thoreaulite (H. Buttgenbach 1933, in Bull. Soc. géol. Belgique LVI. 328), f. the name of J. Thoreau, 20th-c. Belgian geologist: see -ite1.]
A monoclinic oxide of tin and tantalum, SnTa2O6, found as rough brown prismatic crystals that are transparent in thin splinters.
| 1934 Chem. Abstr. XXVIII. 6658 Thoreaulite (new) is monoclinic with high n and birefringence. 1959 Mineral. Abstr. XIV. 107/1 Two flat veins break off from the north of the dyke of pegmatite at Manono (Katanga)... The heavy minerals are: cassiterite, tantalo-columbite, thoreaulite, löllingite, pyrite, galena. 1974 Amer. Mineralogist LIX. 1036/1 It is necessary to justify the choice of SnTa2O6 as the ideal composition of thoreaulite, since the ideal formula is usually given as SnTa2O7. |