Vestaite
A titanium iron oxide that crystallised in shock-melt pockets of a eucrite from Vesta.
Key facts
- Formula
- (Ti4+Fe2+)Ti4+3O9
- Family
- Oxides
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- First described
- the eucrite Northwest Africa 8003, 2017
Vestaite was approved as a new mineral in 2017 from Northwest Africa 8003, a shocked eucrite, and described in 2018. It is named after the asteroid Vesta, the parent body of the eucrites. It is known only from meteorites.
What it is
Vestaite is a titanium-rich oxide with the structure of schreyerite, built of alternating slabs of two different titanium–oxygen arrangements. It can be thought of as rutile with regular planes of displaced atoms running through it.
Where it is found
It occurs in shock-melt pockets in NWA 8003, together with corundum, ilmenite and an aluminium- and titanium-rich pyroxene. It crystallised from melt that mixed ilmenite and silicate, at pressures up to about 10 gigapascals during an impact on Vesta.
How it is recognised
It is identified by electron microscopy and electron diffraction, which also reveal planar defects in its structure.
Did you know?
Vesta was orbited by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in 2011 and 2012.
Most eucrites are basalts from Vesta's crust, so new minerals in them are rare.