Editorial Feature

Properties of Cavoite

Sep 19 2014

Image Credit: francesco cepolina/Shutterstock.com

Cavoite was named after the elements in its composition – calcium, vanadium, and oxygen - and also in allusion to thorianite and uraninite. The mineral can be made synthetically and is often confused with thorianite and uraninite.

Chemical Formula – CaV₃O₇

Properties of Cavoite

The following are the key properties of cavoite:

Cell Data

Space group: Fm3m
a = 5.41–5.42
Z = 4

Crystal Data

Cubic
Point group: 4/m 3 2/m
As octahedra, to 2 cm
Earthy, massive
X-ray powder pattern: 3.124 (100), 1.913 (51), 1.632 (44), 2.706 (29), 1.241 (15), 0.9146 (13), 1.1044 (12)

Chemical Composition

Elements	Content (%)
V	47.42
O	37.37
Ca	12.70
Si	2.06
K	0.26
Mn	0.18
Total	100.00

Optical Properties

Optical class: Isotropic
n = > 2

Estimated Properties

Electron density	Bulk density (electron density) = 3.34 g/cm³ note: Specific gravity of cavoite = 3.50 g/cm³
Photoelectric	PE_Cavoite = 10.89 barns/electron U=PE_Cavoite x ρ electron density= 36.34 barns/cm³
Fermion index	Fermion index = 0.0024995067 Boson index = 0.9975004933
Radioactivity	Cavoite is radioactive ( barely detectable)

How to Identify Cavoite

Cavoite can be identified in the field by its colorless form. Its transparent form has no cleavage. This mineral has a vitreous luster with a white streak. The fracture on this mineral is brittle, much like that displayed in glass and non-metallic minerals.

Occurrence of Cavoite and Useful Mineral Association

Cavoite occurs sparingly in partially absorbed inclusions of wall-rock in a dike-like zone of carbonate rock cutting nepheline syenite; as a secondary mineral weathered from phonolites and nepheline syenites; and in pegmatite, a coarsely crystalline granite.

It is often associated with minerals such as nepheline, tremolite, apatite, feldspar, magnetite, ilmenite, calcite, hydromica, kaolinite, “limonite”, fluocerite, tornebohmite, and bastnasite.