This locality is in a very remote area with hostile actors in the area. Recent access has been by helicopter.
Alkaline massif with boron-rich granitoids intruding into schists, crossed by metasomatite and pegmatite veins.
Pegmatites resulting from the differentiation of a silicic melt to the point where saturation in boron is attained under vapor unsaturation (peralkaline sodic and SiO2-undersaturated residual melt) with reedmergnerite + ortholase/microcline/quartz assemblage (450-500 °C, P is less than = 2kb).
References:- Belakowski, D. I. (1991): Die seltenen Mineralien von Dara-i-Pioz im Hochgebirge Tadshikistans. Lapis, 16 (12), 42-48. (in German)
- Pautov, L.A. et al. (2000). "Sogdianite and sugilite from the Dara-i-Pioz massif (Tajikistan)." Proceedings of the Russian Mineralogical Society, 129(3), 66-79.
- Agakhanov, A.., Pautov, L.A., Sokolova, E.V., Hawthorne, F.S., and Karpenko, V. Yu. (2003) Moskvinite-(Y), Na2K(Y,REE)[Si6O15], a new mineral. Zapiski Vserossiyskogo Mineralogicheskogo Obshchestva: 132(6): 15-21 (in Russian).
- Lapis (2004): 29(1): 47.
- Canadian Mineralogist (2004): 42: 107-119.
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http://www.koeln.netsurf.de/~w.steffens/dara.htm 101 entries listed. 93 valid minerals. 27 type localities (valid minerals).
