Moving mountains for you
Switch currency

Current Live Auctions

Current Live Fixed Price Sales

Tranquillityite

Views:
Watches:
SKY510771

Tranquillityite

Rare Mineral

Description Tabs

Description
Locality: 
Pilbarra District, Western Australia, Australia
Class: 
Massive/Crystalline
Size Range: 
Micromount (under 1cm)
Size: 
0.4 × 0.3 × 0.2 cm
Description

This specimen is not nice, in fact it is ugly, but it has a big curiosity, since this mineral species has its type locality in the Moon !!. Only six of 5000 mineral species have its type locality in the Moon.

Lunar rock samples brought back from the Moon by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 were found to contain three minerals that had never been seen on Earth. Terrestrial occurrences for pyroxferroite and armalcolite were discovered in the next few years, but until 2011, tranquillityite was only known from returned moon rock samples and from lunar and martian meteorites. However, the mineral has now been discovered as an uncommon accessory phase in terrestrial mafic rocks, at six localities in Western Australia. This specimen is from one of these six terrestrial occurrences.

Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Tranquillityite

Formula: 
(Fe2+,Ca)8(Zr,Y)2Ti3(SiO4)3O4
Strunz: 
9.AG.90
Crystal System: 
Hexagonal
Hardness: 
0.0
Type Locality: 
Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), The Moon

Seller Information

Payment options: offline, paypal_wpp, paypal_wps