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Concept
Apatite
Summary
Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common endmembers is written as Ca10(PO4)6(OH,F,Cl)2, and the crystal unit cell formulae of the individual minerals are written as Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, Ca10(PO4)6F2 and Ca10(PO4)6Cl2.
The mineral was named apatite by the German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1786, although the specific mineral he had described was reclassified as fluorapatite in 1860 by the German mineralogist Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg. Apatite is often mistaken for other minerals. This tendency is reflected in the mineral's name, which is derived from the Greek word ἀπατάω (apatáō), which means to deceive.
Apatite is very common as an accessory mineral in igneous and metamorphic rocks, where it is the most common phosphate mineral. However, occurrences are usually as small grains which are often visible only in thin section. Coarsely crystalline apatite is usually restricted to pegmatites, gneiss derived from sediments rich in carbonate minerals, skarns, or marble. Apatite is also found in clastic sedimentary rock as grains eroded out of the source rock. Phosphorite is a phosphate-rich sedimentary rock containing as much as 80% apatite, which is present as cryptocrystalline masses referred to as collophane. Economic quantities of apatite are also sometimes found in nepheline syenite or in carbonatites.
Apatite is the defining mineral for 5 on the Mohs scale. It can be distinguished in the field from beryl and tourmaline by its relative softness. It is often fluorescent under ultraviolet light.
Apatite is one of a few minerals produced and used by biological micro-environmental systems. Hydroxyapatite, also known as hydroxylapatite, is the major component of tooth enamel and bone mineral. A relatively rare form of apatite in which most of the OH groups are absent and containing many carbonate and acid phosphate substitutions is a large component of bone material.
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