PEROVSKITE

    Class : Oxides and hydroxides
    Subclass : Oxides
    Crystal system : Orthorhombic
    Chemistry : CaTiO3
    Rarity : Fairly common to rare

Perovskite is a rare primary oxide of basic rocks and limestones having undergone contact metamorphism, more rarely of nepheline syenites and associated carbonatites. It was named in honor of the Russian mineralogist Lev Alekseivich Perovsky. Perovskite is brown to black, transparent to opaque, its luster is metallic to adamantine. Fragile, it appears in pseudocubic crystals with striated faces parallel to the edges, more rarely in pseudo-octahedra. It is an ancillary ore of titanium and sometimes rare earths.

Main photo : Perovskite from Perovskitovaya Mine, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia

Perovskite from Perovskitovaya Mine, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia
Perovskite from Rubiana, Piedmont, Italy © Bruno Marello
Perovskite from San Benito, California, USA © Tony Peterson
Twinned perovskite from Magnet Cove, Arkansas, USA © Kelly Nash

Perovskite in the World

Perovskite is sometimes abundant in microcrystals in certain basic rocks but the large crystals come mainly from metamorphic limestones such as those from the Eremeyev mine (Akhmatovsk, Russia) which provided superb pseudocubic crystals of 5 cm embedded in the calcite. The syenitic complexes have also yielded large crystals: the Gardiner complex (Greenland) with gray-black pseudo-octahedra reaching 8 cm and the Lovozero Massif (Kola, Russia). Carbonatites from Magnet Cove (Arkansas) yielded octahedra larger than 2 cm. Several notable deposits are known in the Alps : the Findelen glacier (Zermatt, Switzerland) has produced interesting monomineral masses, and the serpentinites of the Italian Alps contain veinlets of calcite with abundant brown crystals of perovskite, sometimes gemmy and 3 cm in size (Val Malenco, Emarese, Val d'Ala, etc...).

Perovskite in France

In France, we find perovskite microcrystals in the Alps, notably in Bessans near St-Jean-de-Maurienne (Savoie), but also at the Canari mine (Haute-Corse), at the Costabonne mines (Pyrénées-Orientales), in the nephelinite dyke of Marcoux (Loire), in the Vosges and in the industrial slag of Lapanouse (Aveyron).

Twinning

Twins on {111} are known for this mineral species, as well as complex lamellar twins on [101] and more rarely on [121].

Fakes and treatments

No fakes listed for this mineral species.


Hardness : 5.5
Density : 3.98 to 4.26
Fracture : Irregular to sub-conchoidal
Streak : Colorless to gray-white

TP : Opaque to transparent
RI : 2,300 to 2,380
Birefringence : 0,080
Optical character : Biaxial +
Pleochroism : Low
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : Sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid

Magnetism : ParamagneticRadioactivity : Very low

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