Feiite
A dense iron-rich titanium oxide found with tschaunerite and liuite in Shergotty.
Key facts
- Formula
- Fe2+2(Fe2+Ti4+)O5
- Family
- High-pressure minerals
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- First described
- the Shergotty Martian meteorite, 2017
Feiite was approved as a new mineral in 2017 from the Shergotty shergottite. It is named after Yingwei Fei, a mineral physicist who studies high-pressure materials. It is known only from meteorites.
What it is
Feiite is an iron titanium oxide with more iron than ulvöspinel and a structure that exists only at high pressure. Its formula shows two kinds of site, one filled with iron and one shared by iron and titanium.
Where it is found
It occurs in the same transformed ulvöspinel grain in a shock-melt pocket of Shergotty as tschaunerite and liuite. It grew as the grain reacted with the melt under pressure.
How it is recognised
It is identified with the electron microprobe and electron backscatter diffraction.
Did you know?
Feiite's structure is the same as that of a laboratory strontium thallium oxide.
Its discovery shows that oxides, not only silicates, record the shock that launched rocks from Mars.