| Tausonite | |
| Category: | Oxide mineral |
| Formula: | SrTiO3 |
| Imasymbol: | Tau[1] |
| Strunz: | 4.CC.35 |
| System: | Cubic |
| Class: | Hexoctahedral (mm) H-M symbol: (4/m 2/m) |
| Symmetry: | Pm3m |
| Unit Cell: | a = 3.9 Å; Z = 1 |
| Color: | Red, red-brown, orange, dark gray |
| Habit: | Cubic and octahedral crystals, granular, massive |
| Cleavage: | None |
| Fracture: | Conchoidal |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Mohs: | 6-6.5 |
| Luster: | Adamantine |
| Diaphaneity: | Translucent to opaque |
| Gravity: | 4.88 |
| Opticalprop: | Isotropic |
| Refractive: | n = 2.40 |
| References: | [2] [3] [4] |
Tausonite is the rare naturally occurring mineral form of strontium titanate: chemical formula: SrTiO3. It occurs as red to orange brown cubic crystals and crystal masses.
It is a member of the perovskite group.
It was first described in 1982 for an occurrence in a syenite intrusive in Tausonite Hill, Murun Massif, Olyokma-Chara Plateau, Sakha Republic, Yakutia, geologically part of the Aldan Shield, Eastern-Siberian Region, Russia.[2] It was named for Russian geochemist Lev Vladimirovich Tauson (1917–1989).[4] It has also been reported from a fenite dike associated with a carbonatite complex in Sarambi, Concepción Department, Paraguay.[3] and in high pressure metamorphic rocks along the Kotaki River area of Honshu Island, Japan.[2]