Burnettite
A vanadium-rich pyroxene from an ancient inclusion in the Allende meteorite.
Key facts
- Formula
- CaVAlSiO6
- Family
- Silicates
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- First described
- the Allende CV3 chondrite, 2013
Burnettite was approved as a new mineral in 2013 from a calcium-aluminium-rich inclusion in Allende, and fully described in 2022. It is named after Donald Burnett, an American cosmochemist who led NASA's Genesis mission to collect particles of the solar wind.
What it is
Burnettite is a pyroxene, a chain silicate, in which vanadium fills the site normally held by magnesium or iron. It belongs to the same family as davisite and grossmanite, calcium pyroxenes in which scandium and reduced titanium take that site.
Where it is found
It occurs as grains a few micrometres across in a vanadium-rich type A calcium-aluminium-rich inclusion in Allende, with paqueite, spinel and melilite.
How it is recognised
It is identified by electron backscatter diffraction and microprobe analysis, which shows that vanadium is the main element on its metal site.
Did you know?
The Genesis capsule crash-landed in Utah in 2004, but scientists still recovered its solar-wind samples.
Vanadium is named after Vanadís, a name of the Norse goddess Freyja.