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Nordite-(Ce) - Sold


Nordite-(Ce) is a sodium strontium cerium zinc silicate. Gerasimovsky (1941) named nordite for its "northern origins." When reviewing the nomenclature of rare earth minerals, Levinson (1966) noted both lanthanum and cerium dominant analyses of nordite. Levinson split nordite into two separate species; the original lanthanum dominant material of Gerasimovsky (1941) became nordite-(La) while the cerium dominant samples of Semenov & Barinskii (1958) became nordite-(Ce). Subsequently, nordite became a mineral supergroup in February 2021 (International Mineralogical Association CNMNC newsletter 60).

Nordite-(Ce) forms a radiating aggregate, 6.5 mm across, of altered brown blades. The matrix is a sodalite-ussingite rock. Green aegirine is also present. From the collection of E.R. Laskowski (1949-2020), a mining engineer who retired to Tucson, Arizona.