Oulankaite – Occurrences, Properties and Distribution

Oulankaite is named after the Oulanka river, where it was first discovered.

Properties of Oulankaite

The key physical properties of Oulankaite are as below:

• Cell Data
  • a = 9.044
  • c=4.937
  • Z = 2
• Crystal Data
  • Tetragonal
  • Crystals – subhedral crystals, occurs as crystals that tend to exhibit a recognizable crystalline structure
  • X-ray diffraction: 2.472(1), 2.26(0.9), 2.022(0.6)
• Chemical Composition

  Elements	Content 1 (%)
  Iron, Fe	4.21
  Copper, Cu	14.36
  Tin, Sn	8.94
  Tellurium, Te	19.22
  Palladium, Pd	30.6
  Platinum, Pt	18.37
  Sulfur, S	4.93

• Estimated Properties

  Electron density	Bulk density (electron density)= 9.36 g/cm3 note: Specific gravity of Oulankaite = 10.9 g/cm3
  Photoelectric	PEOulankaite = 457.19 barns/electron U=PEOulankaite x ρelectron density= 4280.02 barns/cm3
  Fermion index	Fermion index = 0.16 Boson index = 0.84
  Radioactivity	GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units) Oulankaite is not radioactive

How to Identify Oulankaite

Oulankaite appears in the form of opaque rose or violet rose crystals. It exhibits a metallic lustre and is non-luminescent by nature. Its hardness ranges between 3.5 and 4.

Global Distribution

Oulankaite is only known to occur in Russia, in the Karelia Republic, Northern Karelia, as part of the Oulanka plutonic complex.

References

• Oulankaite Mineral Data – Webmineral
• Oulankaite Mineral Data - Mindat