Taenite is a mineral found naturally on Earth mostly in iron meteorites. It is an alloy of iron and nickel, with a chemical formula of Fe,Ni and nickel proportions of 20% up to 65%.
The name is derived from the Greek ταινία for "band, ribbon". Taenite is a major constituent of iron meteorites. In octahedrites it is found in bands interleaving with kamacite forming Widmanstätten patterns, whereas in ataxites it is the dominant constituent. In octahedrites a fine intermixture with kamacite can occur, which is called plessite.
Taenite is one of four known Fe-Ni meteorite minerals: The others are kamacite, tetrataenite, and antitaenite.
Properties
It is opaque with a metallic grayish to white color. The structure is isometric-hexoctahedral (cubic). Its density is around 8 g/cm3 and hardness is 5 to 5.5 on the Mohs scale. Taenite is magnetic, in contrast to antitaenite. The structure is isometric-hexoctahedral (cubic). The crystal lattice has the c≈a=3.582±0.002 Å.1 The Strunz classification is I/A.08-20, while the Dana classification is 1.1.11.2.
Meteorite localities with taenite
- Campo del Cielo strewn field in Argentina.
- Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve in Australia.
- Canyon Diablo in Arizona.
See also
- Mason B., 1962: Meteorites. J. Wiley & Sons, New York [ISBN missing]
References
Albertsen, F.; Knudsen, J. M.; Jensen, G. B. (Jun 1978). "Structure of taenite in two iron meteorites J.". Nature. 273 (5662): 453–454. Bibcode:1978Natur.273..453A. doi:10.1038/273453a0. S2CID 4177830. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩