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Sonolite
(Mn2+)9(SiO4)4(OH,F) 2
Sonolite is a member of the humite group. It is the Mn-dominant equivialent of clinohumite, and is a polymorph of the rare mineral jerrygibbsite. Sonolite is not a common mineral either, registered from only 46 localities in Mindat. It is most frequently found as masses of fine grains, as a reaction product between rhodochrosite and tephroite and associated with Mn ores. The best crystals are found in hydrothermal veins and fissures in the Sterling Hill mine, New Jersey, USA and at LÃ¥ngban, Sweden. Individual crystals do not commonly exceed 1 cm.
Sonolite is often associated with tephroite and other Mn-dominant humite group minerals, and XRD is normally required to distinguish these species.
Sonolite ,
Austria,
Styria, Mitterdorf, Veitsch, Kleinveitsch, Kaiblinggraben, Friedlkogel (Friedelkogel; Heinzlkogel)
The manganese ore deposits of Veitsch are located approximately 6-7 km north of the town. They were mined between 1880 and 1892 and to some extent during WW II and at the end of the1960s.
The manganese ores are considered to be epigenetic, originating from hydrothermal Mn-rich fluids. The lenses are believed to be an original shape formed during sedimentation (synsedimentary). The ore lenses are flat, on average 1.5 m thick, and essentially consist of rhodochrosite. Sonolite occurs as massive, brownish reaction rims between tephroite and rhodocrosite. Individual specimens can reach multiple cm in size. Francis et al. discuss the temperature and partial pressures pf CO2/H2O required for sonolite to form.
References:
Franz Neubauer, Robert Handler, Siegfried Hermann and Gernot Paulus (1993): Revised Lithostratigraphy and Structure of the Eastern Graywacke Zone (EasternAlps). Mitt.Österr.Geol.Ges. Vol. 86, pp 61-74.
Carl A. Francis, Walter Postl, Peter Tropper, Franz Bernhard, Franz Walter und Karl Ettinger (2004): Über Sonolith und Tephroit von den Veitscher Manganerzvorkommen, Steiermark, Österreich. Joannea Min. Vol. 2, pp 87-102.
Clar, E. & Meixner, H. (1953): Das Manganvorkommen von Dürnstein. Carinthia II 143/63/1.
Sonolite ,
Japan ,
Honshu Island, Kinki Region, Kyoto Prefecture, Sohraku-gun, Sono mine
Sonolite owes its name to the Sono mine, from which it was first discovered. The first publication on this mineral also describes sonolite from another nine mines in Japan and one in Taiwan. At all these localities, sonolite occurs as fine-grained aggregates in thin layers in the tephroite or rhodochrosite ore, having a pale reddish brown to greyish red brown color.
Yoshinaga (1963) gives the following description of the sonolite from the Sono mine:
“ In the 1st level adit of this mine, sonolite occurs as fine-grained masses in the tephroite-rich part of the tephroite-rhodonite ore. Rhodochrosite is found along the boundary between tephroite and rhodonite. The ore is traversed by a few veinlets of a later stage, composed of pyroxmangite and neotocite. Finegrained rhodochrosite is found along the veinlets. Under the microscope, sonolite is intimately associated with the mosaic of rhodochrosite, and shows generally no definite crystal form. Lamellae twinning is common. Sometimes aggregates of long prismatic crystals are observable.
A small amount of alleghanyite was recognized associated with sonolite.The presence of alleghanyite was also confirmed by X-ray diffraction. In the Hirata adit of this mine, alleghanyite occurs as reddish brown masses in the rhodochrosite ores, but it is not accompanied by sonolite."
References:
Mayumi Yoshinaga (1963): Sonolite, a New Manganese Silicate Mineral. Mem. Fac. Sci., Kyushu Univ., Ser. D, Geol., Vol. XIV, No. 1, pp. 1-21.
Sonolite ,
Kyrgyzstan,
Issyk-Kul'skaya Oblast, Inyl'chek Range, Muzeinyi Valley, Rhodonite occurrence
Sonolite occurs within biotite-quartz hornfels at the margin of a Sn-bearing granite massif on the northern slope of the Inyl'chek mountains, southeastern Khirgiz.
Reference:
Pautov L.A., Ignatenko K.I., Belakovskii D.I. (1990): New data on sonolite, abstract - ZVMO, N3, pp. 98-101.
Sonolite ,
Sweden,
Värmland, Filipstad, Nordmark (Nordmarksberg), Brattfors Mine
The Brattfors mine is a carbonate-hosted Fe-Mn-(Ba- Pb-As-Sb) deposit of the LÃ¥ngban type. The ores consists predominantly of iron oxide ores (hematite and magnetite) and subsidiary manganese oxide ores (braunite and hausmannite), which occur as well-separated lenses in dolomitic marbles.These deposits occur within a supracrustal rock sequence dominated by felsic metavolcanics of Svecofennian (~1.9 Ga) age that has been metamorphosed under amphibolite-facies conditions.
Sonolite occurs as orange grains in skarn band within carbonate horizons. Moore (1978) notes in particular that sonolite appears as bands in the marble, whereas the similar mineral manganhumite appears to have formed in close contact with the manganese ores.
References:
Paul Brian Moore (1978): Manganhumite, a new species. Mineralogical Magazine. Vol. 42, pp 133-136.
Olav Revheim (2014): Manganhumite - Mindat "Best Minerals" article.
Sonolite ,
Sweden,
Värmland, Filipstad, Långban
Sonolite occurs as quite well developed, dark brown crystals up to 9 x 5 mm. They are intergrown in late fissures in dolomite, associated with other late forming minerals such as pink sarkinite, calcite and a pale brown chlorite. Sonolite is also known to occur with welinite, tephroite and sarkinite as fissure fillings cutting compact hausmannite ore.
Sandström and Holtstam, in the chapter "Geology of the Långban deposit" in their Långban book (see reference), consider four main mineral forming events at Långban:
- Primary minerals and their early recrystallization products
- Ore and skarn minerals formed at peak metamorphosis
- Cavity minerals
- Fissure minerals
Sonolite is a late stage fissure mineral at LÃ¥ngban. It is believed that the fissures originated during metamorphic processes in the Svecofennian orogeny, and that the post-orogenic granite intrusion provided the hot fluid (300-50oC) required to mobilize and mix chemical elements already present in the volcanic sediments of LÃ¥ngban.
Sonolite at LÃ¥ngban is very similar to tephropite, and specimens found by the mine foreman Karl Johan Finneman in the1920s were labelled tephroite by Gustav Flink, who was probably the most important collector and connoisseur of LÃ¥ngban minerals.
Reference:
Dan Holtstam and Jörgen Langhof (ed.) (1999): Långban, the mines, their minerals, geology and explorers. 215 pages, Raster Förlag.
Sonolite ,
USA,
New Jersey, Sussex Co., Franklin Mining District, Franklin, Franklin Mine, Taylor Mine
Sonolite ,
USA,
New Jersey, Sussex Co., Franklin Mining District, Ogdensburg, Sterling Hill, Sterling Mine
Most sonolite from Franklin and Sterling Hill is massive, in calcium-poor ore, where large masses up to 10 cm are associated with willemite and franklinite. Its appearance and color in this environment are similar to that of brown tephroite and the other manganese humites, and sonolite can only reliably be distinguished from these minerals by XRD.
Sonolite crystals are known from secondary seams at Sterling Hill. Crystals occur on calcite-rich franklinite/willemite ore with no associated zincite; there is minor secondary sphalerite associated. The sonolite crystals are prismatic and of a complex habit and, according to Dunn(1995), at least a hundred specimens were preserved. The color varies from light to dark brown and (uncommonly) pink; the luster is vitreous.
Sonolite also occurs as locally abundant dark-brown reaction rims on zincian tephroite crystals in the Sterling hill mine. The tephroite crystals can reach 15 cm in size, but most are 1-3 cm; the reaction rims are up to 3 cm thick, although most are thinner.
The Sterling Hill/Franklin zinc-iron-manganese deposits are ancient ocean-floor exhalative (hot spring) deposits that were deformed into an overturned isoclinal syncline. The ore bodies are completely enclosed by the Franklin marble. These rocks where metamorphosed during the Ottawan orogeny, 1090-1030 Ma. There is general agreement that metamorphism reached 750oC at 4-5 kb pressure and at 12-15 km (7-9 miles) depth of burial. The highest stages of metamorphism were followed by a long period of slow cooling and erosion and, by late Precambrian time (about 650 Ma), the region was exposed at the surface.
The Franklin orebody is layered internally, and is gneissic in texture for the most part. These layers are conformable and can be simplified to be of two general types: 1) ore units composed of willemite, franklinite and zincite in varying proportions, with or without calcite, and 2) calcium silicate units composed of andradite, rhodonite, feldspars, micas, pyroxenes, calcite and a great many other minerals.
In addition to the complex primary mineralogy, hydrothermal alteration and the intrusion of pegmatites have created new mineral-forming environments, both within the pegmatites and in the contact between pegmatites and the other rocks.
References:
Peter J. Dunn (1985): Manganese humites and leucophoenicites from Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey: parageneses, compositions and implications for solid solutions limits. American Mineralogist, Vol. 70, pp 379-387.
Dunn, P.J. (1995): Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey - the World's Most Magnificent Mineral Deposits. Privately printed, 755 pp.
Olav Revheim (2014): Leucophoenicite, Mindat "Best Minerals" article.
First edition of the Best Minerals article on Sonolite by Olav Revheim April 2014
Reviewed by Becky Coulson April 2014
Click here to view Best Minerals S, and here for the Humite Group article,and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation for finished Best Minerals articles.
Click here to view Best Minerals S, and here for the Humite Group article, and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation for finished Best Minerals articles.
Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?
Sonolite
(Mn2+)9(SiO4)4(OH,F) 2
Sonolite is a member of the humite group. It is the Mn-dominant equivialent of clinohumite, and is a polymorph of the rare mineral jerrygibbsite. Sonolite is not a common mineral either, registered from only 46 localities in Mindat. It is most frequently found as masses of fine grains, as a reaction product between rhodochrosite and tephroite and associated with Mn ores. The best crystals are found in hydrothermal veins and fissures in the Sterling Hill mine, New Jersey, USA and at LÃ¥ngban, Sweden. Individual crystals do not commonly exceed 1 cm.
Sonolite is often associated with tephroite and other Mn-dominant humite group minerals, and XRD is normally required to distinguish these species.
Sonolite ,
Austria,
Styria, Mitterdorf, Veitsch, Kleinveitsch, Kaiblinggraben, Friedlkogel (Friedelkogel; Heinzlkogel)
The manganese ore deposits of Veitsch are located approximately 6-7 km north of the town. They were mined between 1880 and 1892 and to some extent during WW II and at the end of the1960s.
The manganese ores are considered to be epigenetic, originating from hydrothermal Mn-rich fluids. The lenses are believed to be an original shape formed during sedimentation (synsedimentary). The ore lenses are flat, on average 1.5 m thick, and essentially consist of rhodochrosite. Sonolite occurs as massive, brownish reaction rims between tephroite and rhodocrosite. Individual specimens can reach multiple cm in size. Francis et al. discuss the temperature and partial pressures pf CO2/H2O required for sonolite to form.
References:
Franz Neubauer, Robert Handler, Siegfried Hermann and Gernot Paulus (1993): Revised Lithostratigraphy and Structure of the Eastern Graywacke Zone (EasternAlps). Mitt.Österr.Geol.Ges. Vol. 86, pp 61-74.
Carl A. Francis, Walter Postl, Peter Tropper, Franz Bernhard, Franz Walter und Karl Ettinger (2004): Über Sonolith und Tephroit von den Veitscher Manganerzvorkommen, Steiermark, Österreich. Joannea Min. Vol. 2, pp 87-102.
Clar, E. & Meixner, H. (1953): Das Manganvorkommen von Dürnstein. Carinthia II 143/63/1.
Sonolite ,
Japan ,
Honshu Island, Kinki Region, Kyoto Prefecture, Sohraku-gun, Sono mine
Sonolite owes its name to the Sono mine, from which it was first discovered. The first publication on this mineral also describes sonolite from another nine mines in Japan and one in Taiwan. At all these localities, sonolite occurs as fine-grained aggregates in thin layers in the tephroite or rhodochrosite ore, having a pale reddish brown to greyish red brown color.
Yoshinaga (1963) gives the following description of the sonolite from the Sono mine:
“ In the 1st level adit of this mine, sonolite occurs as fine-grained masses in the tephroite-rich part of the tephroite-rhodonite ore. Rhodochrosite is found along the boundary between tephroite and rhodonite. The ore is traversed by a few veinlets of a later stage, composed of pyroxmangite and neotocite. Finegrained rhodochrosite is found along the veinlets. Under the microscope, sonolite is intimately associated with the mosaic of rhodochrosite, and shows generally no definite crystal form. Lamellae twinning is common. Sometimes aggregates of long prismatic crystals are observable.
A small amount of alleghanyite was recognized associated with sonolite.The presence of alleghanyite was also confirmed by X-ray diffraction. In the Hirata adit of this mine, alleghanyite occurs as reddish brown masses in the rhodochrosite ores, but it is not accompanied by sonolite."
References:
Mayumi Yoshinaga (1963): Sonolite, a New Manganese Silicate Mineral. Mem. Fac. Sci., Kyushu Univ., Ser. D, Geol., Vol. XIV, No. 1, pp. 1-21.
Sonolite ,
Kyrgyzstan,
Issyk-Kul'skaya Oblast, Inyl'chek Range, Muzeinyi Valley, Rhodonite occurrence
Sonolite occurs within biotite-quartz hornfels at the margin of a Sn-bearing granite massif on the northern slope of the Inyl'chek mountains, southeastern Khirgiz.
Reference:
Pautov L.A., Ignatenko K.I., Belakovskii D.I. (1990): New data on sonolite, abstract - ZVMO, N3, pp. 98-101.
Sonolite ,
Sweden,
Värmland, Filipstad, Nordmark (Nordmarksberg), Brattfors Mine
The Brattfors mine is a carbonate-hosted Fe-Mn-(Ba- Pb-As-Sb) deposit of the LÃ¥ngban type. The ores consists predominantly of iron oxide ores (hematite and magnetite) and subsidiary manganese oxide ores (braunite and hausmannite), which occur as well-separated lenses in dolomitic marbles.These deposits occur within a supracrustal rock sequence dominated by felsic metavolcanics of Svecofennian (~1.9 Ga) age that has been metamorphosed under amphibolite-facies conditions.
Sonolite occurs as orange grains in skarn band within carbonate horizons. Moore (1978) notes in particular that sonolite appears as bands in the marble, whereas the similar mineral manganhumite appears to have formed in close contact with the manganese ores.
References:
Paul Brian Moore (1978): Manganhumite, a new species. Mineralogical Magazine. Vol. 42, pp 133-136.
Olav Revheim (2014): Manganhumite - Mindat "Best Minerals" article.
Sonolite ,
Sweden,
Värmland, Filipstad, Långban
Sonolite occurs as quite well developed, dark brown crystals up to 9 x 5 mm. They are intergrown in late fissures in dolomite, associated with other late forming minerals such as pink sarkinite, calcite and a pale brown chlorite. Sonolite is also known to occur with welinite, tephroite and sarkinite as fissure fillings cutting compact hausmannite ore.
Sandström and Holtstam, in the chapter "Geology of the Långban deposit" in their Långban book (see reference), consider four main mineral forming events at Långban:
- Primary minerals and their early recrystallization products
- Ore and skarn minerals formed at peak metamorphosis
- Cavity minerals
- Fissure minerals
Sonolite is a late stage fissure mineral at LÃ¥ngban. It is believed that the fissures originated during metamorphic processes in the Svecofennian orogeny, and that the post-orogenic granite intrusion provided the hot fluid (300-50oC) required to mobilize and mix chemical elements already present in the volcanic sediments of LÃ¥ngban.
Sonolite at LÃ¥ngban is very similar to tephropite, and specimens found by the mine foreman Karl Johan Finneman in the1920s were labelled tephroite by Gustav Flink, who was probably the most important collector and connoisseur of LÃ¥ngban minerals.
Reference:
Dan Holtstam and Jörgen Langhof (ed.) (1999): Långban, the mines, their minerals, geology and explorers. 215 pages, Raster Förlag.
Sonolite ,
USA,
New Jersey, Sussex Co., Franklin Mining District, Franklin, Franklin Mine, Taylor Mine
Sonolite ,
USA,
New Jersey, Sussex Co., Franklin Mining District, Ogdensburg, Sterling Hill, Sterling Mine
Most sonolite from Franklin and Sterling Hill is massive, in calcium-poor ore, where large masses up to 10 cm are associated with willemite and franklinite. Its appearance and color in this environment are similar to that of brown tephroite and the other manganese humites, and sonolite can only reliably be distinguished from these minerals by XRD.
Sonolite crystals are known from secondary seams at Sterling Hill. Crystals occur on calcite-rich franklinite/willemite ore with no associated zincite; there is minor secondary sphalerite associated. The sonolite crystals are prismatic and of a complex habit and, according to Dunn(1995), at least a hundred specimens were preserved. The color varies from light to dark brown and (uncommonly) pink; the luster is vitreous.
Sonolite also occurs as locally abundant dark-brown reaction rims on zincian tephroite crystals in the Sterling hill mine. The tephroite crystals can reach 15 cm in size, but most are 1-3 cm; the reaction rims are up to 3 cm thick, although most are thinner.
The Sterling Hill/Franklin zinc-iron-manganese deposits are ancient ocean-floor exhalative (hot spring) deposits that were deformed into an overturned isoclinal syncline. The ore bodies are completely enclosed by the Franklin marble. These rocks where metamorphosed during the Ottawan orogeny, 1090-1030 Ma. There is general agreement that metamorphism reached 750oC at 4-5 kb pressure and at 12-15 km (7-9 miles) depth of burial. The highest stages of metamorphism were followed by a long period of slow cooling and erosion and, by late Precambrian time (about 650 Ma), the region was exposed at the surface.
The Franklin orebody is layered internally, and is gneissic in texture for the most part. These layers are conformable and can be simplified to be of two general types: 1) ore units composed of willemite, franklinite and zincite in varying proportions, with or without calcite, and 2) calcium silicate units composed of andradite, rhodonite, feldspars, micas, pyroxenes, calcite and a great many other minerals.
In addition to the complex primary mineralogy, hydrothermal alteration and the intrusion of pegmatites have created new mineral-forming environments, both within the pegmatites and in the contact between pegmatites and the other rocks.
References:
Peter J. Dunn (1985): Manganese humites and leucophoenicites from Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey: parageneses, compositions and implications for solid solutions limits. American Mineralogist, Vol. 70, pp 379-387.
Dunn, P.J. (1995): Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey - the World's Most Magnificent Mineral Deposits. Privately printed, 755 pp.
Olav Revheim (2014): Leucophoenicite, Mindat "Best Minerals" article.
First edition of the Best Minerals article on Sonolite by Olav Revheim April 2014
Reviewed by Becky Coulson April 2014
Click here to view Best Minerals S, and here for the Humite Group article,and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation for finished Best Minerals articles.
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