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Ilmenite
 
 
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Ilmenite is a weakly magnetic
Magnetism

In physics, magnetism is one of the phenomena by which materials exert attractive or repulsive forces on other materials. Some well-known materials that exhibit easily detectable magnetic properties are nickel, iron, cobalt, and their alloys; however, all materials are influenced to greater or lesser degree by the presence of a magnetic fiel...
 titanium-iron oxide mineral
Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
 which is iron-black or steel-gray. It is a crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
line iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
 titanium
Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Sometimes called the ?space age metal?, it has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver colour....
 oxide
Oxide

An oxide is a chemical compound contaning at least one oxygen atom as well as at least one other element. Most of the Earth's crust consists of oxides....
 . It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and it has the same crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
 structure as corundum
Corundum

Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide and is one of the rock -forming minerals. It is naturally clear, but can have different colors when impurities are present....
 and hematite
Hematite

Hematite, Spelling differences#Simplification of ae .28.C3.A6.29 and oe .28.C5.93.29 h?matite, is the mineral form of Iron oxide , one of several iron oxides....
.

nite is commonly recognised in altered igneous rocks by the presence of a white alteration product, the pseudo-mineral
Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
 leucoxene
Leucoxene

Leucoxene is a fine granular alteration product of titanium minerals. It varies in color from yellow to brown.It is not a valid mineral species and consists mainly of rutile or anatase....
. Often ilmenites are rimmed with leucoxene, which allows ilmenite to be distinguished from magnetite
Magnetite

Magnetite is a ferrimagnetism mineral with chemical formula Iron3Oxygen4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group....
 and other iron-titanium oxides.






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Ilmenite is a weakly magnetic
Magnetism

In physics, magnetism is one of the phenomena by which materials exert attractive or repulsive forces on other materials. Some well-known materials that exhibit easily detectable magnetic properties are nickel, iron, cobalt, and their alloys; however, all materials are influenced to greater or lesser degree by the presence of a magnetic fiel...
 titanium-iron oxide mineral
Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
 which is iron-black or steel-gray. It is a crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
line iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
 titanium
Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Sometimes called the ?space age metal?, it has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver colour....
 oxide
Oxide

An oxide is a chemical compound contaning at least one oxygen atom as well as at least one other element. Most of the Earth's crust consists of oxides....
 . It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and it has the same crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
 structure as corundum
Corundum

Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide and is one of the rock -forming minerals. It is naturally clear, but can have different colors when impurities are present....
 and hematite
Hematite

Hematite, Spelling differences#Simplification of ae .28.C3.A6.29 and oe .28.C5.93.29 h?matite, is the mineral form of Iron oxide , one of several iron oxides....
.

Distinguishing features

Ilmenite is commonly recognised in altered igneous rocks by the presence of a white alteration product, the pseudo-mineral
Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
 leucoxene
Leucoxene

Leucoxene is a fine granular alteration product of titanium minerals. It varies in color from yellow to brown.It is not a valid mineral species and consists mainly of rutile or anatase....
. Often ilmenites are rimmed with leucoxene, which allows ilmenite to be distinguished from magnetite
Magnetite

Magnetite is a ferrimagnetism mineral with chemical formula Iron3Oxygen4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group....
 and other iron-titanium oxides. The example shown in the image at right is typical of leucoxene-rimmed ilmenite.

In reflected light it may be distinguished from magnetite
Magnetite

Magnetite is a ferrimagnetism mineral with chemical formula Iron3Oxygen4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group....
 by more pronounced reflection pleochroism
Pleochroism

Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon in which mineral grains within a Rock appear to be different colors when observed at different angles under a polarization petrographic microscope....
 and a brown-pink tinge.

Ilmenite is weakly magnetic, with a weak response to a hand magnet.

Mineral chemistry

Ilmenite most often contains appreciable quantities of magnesium and manganese and the full chemical formula can be expressed as (Fe,Mg,Mn,Ti)O3. Ilmenite forms a solid solution with geikielite and pyrophanite which are magnesian and manganiferous end-members of the solid solution
Solid solution

A solid solution is a solid-phase solution of one or more soluble in a solvent. Such a mixture is considered a solution rather than a Chemical compound when the crystal structure of the solvent remains unchanged by addition of the solutes, and when the mixture remains in a single wiktionary:Homogeneous phase ....
 series.

Although there appears evidence of the complete range of mineral chemistries in the (Fe,Mg,Mn,Ti)O3 system naturally occurring on Earth, the vast bulk of ilmenites are restricted to close to the ideal composition, with minor mole percentages of Mn and Mg. A key exception is in the ilmenites of kimberlite
Kimberlite

Kimberlite is a type of potassic volcanic rock best known for sometimes containing diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley, Northern Cape in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond in 1871 spawned a diamond rush, eventually creating the Big Hole....
s where the mineral usually contains major amounts of geikielite molecules, and in some highly differentiated felsic
Felsic

Felsic is a term used in geology to refer to silicate minerals, magma, and rock which are enriched in the lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminium, sodium, and potassium....
 rocks ilmenites may contain significant amounts of pyrophanite molecules.

At higher temperatures it has been demonstrated there is a complete solid solution between ilmenite and hematite
Hematite

Hematite, Spelling differences#Simplification of ae .28.C3.A6.29 and oe .28.C5.93.29 h?matite, is the mineral form of Iron oxide , one of several iron oxides....
. There is a miscibility gap at lower temperatures, resulting in a coexistence of these two minerals in rocks but no solid solution. This coexistence may result in exsolution lamellae in cooled ilmenites with more iron in the system than can be homogeneously accommodated in the crystal lattice.

Altered
Metasomatism

Metasomatism is the chemical alteration of a Rock by hydrothermal and other fluids.Metasomatism can occur via the action of hydrothermal fluids from an igneous or Metamorphism source....
 ilmenite forms the mineral leucoxene
Leucoxene

Leucoxene is a fine granular alteration product of titanium minerals. It varies in color from yellow to brown.It is not a valid mineral species and consists mainly of rutile or anatase....
, an important source of titanium in heavy mineral sands ore deposits. Leucoxene is a typical component of altered gabbro
Gabbro

Gabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are Intrusive, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
 and diorite
Diorite

Diorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate Intrusion igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene....
 and is generally indicative of ilmenite in the unaltered rock.

Paragenesis