KRYZHANOVSKITE

    Class : Phosphates, arsenates, vanadates
    Subclass : Hydrated phosphates
    Crystal system : Orthorhombic
    Chemistry : Fe2Mn(PO4)2(OH)2 H2O
    Rarity : Rare to uncommon

Kryzhanovskite is a secondary phosphate of granitic pegmatites and iron formations. It is a mineral commonly associated with primary and secondary phosphates (sicklerite, vivianite, ludlamite, etc...). It was named in honor of Vladimir Ilyich Kryzhanovsky, Curator of the Mineralogy Museum of the Moscow Academy of Sciences. It is a brownish-black to dark red-brown and greenish-brown mineral which forms coarse pseudo-octahedral, prismatic or lamellar crystals measuring up to 5 cm.

Main photo : Kryzhanovskite from Hagendorf, Bavaria, Germany © Stephan Wolfsried

Kryzhanovskite from Hagendorf, Bavaria, Germany © Elmar Lackner
Kryzhanovskite & ludlamite from Hagendorf, Bavaria, Germany © Gianfranco Ciccolini
Kryzhanovskite from Big Fish River, Yukon, Canada © Gianfranco Ciccolini
Kryzhanovskite from Hagendorf, Bavaria, Germany © Domenico Preite

Kryzhanovskite in the World

Kryzhanovskite is common in the American pegmatites of South Dakota (Bull Moose, Dan Patch, Tip Top...) and New Hampshire (Palermo), in which it derives from the alteration of phosphoferrite. Crystals measuring 4 cm, usually pseudo-octahedral, come from the Big Fish River district (Yukon, Canada). Kryzhanovskite is also present in the pegmatites of Hagendorf (Germany) and those of Mangualde and Sabugal (Portugal), as well as in the lepidolite pegmatites of Karibib (Namibia). In Kolbinsk (Russia), it is intimately mixed with sicklerite in the alteration halo of large masses of triphylite.

Kryzhanovskite in France

Kryzhanovskite is not known in the French underground.

Twinning

No twins are known for this mineral species.

Fakes and treatments

No fakes recorded for this mineral species.


Hardness : 3.5 to 4
Density : 3.31
Fracture : Irregular
Streak : Brown-yellow

TP : Translucent
RI : 1.790 to 1.820
Birefringence : 0.030
Optical character : Biaxial +
Pleochroism : Strong
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : -

Magnetism : NoneRadioactivity : None