|Category||Metals and intermetallic alloys|
|Crystal class||Hexoctahedral (m3m) |
H-M symbol: (4/m 3 2/m)
|Color||metallic grayish to white|
|Mohs scale hardness||5-5.5|
|Other characteristics||magnetic, not radioactive|
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.
It is opaque with a metallic grayish to white color. The structure is isometric-hexoctahedral. 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 crystal lattice has the c≈a= 3.582±0.002 Å. The Strunz classification is I/A.08-20, while the Dana classification is 126.96.36.199 . It is hexoctahedral (cubic) in structure.
Meteorite localities with taeniteEdit
- http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/taenite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy
- http://webmineral.com/data/Taenite.shtml Webmineral data
- 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.
- Mason B., 1962: Meteorites. J. Wiley & Sons, New York