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Monazite is an important ore for thorium, [8] lanthanum, and cerium. [9] It is often found in placer deposits. India, Madagascar, and South Africa have large deposits of monazite sands. The deposits in India are particularly rich in monazite. Monazite is radioactive due to the presence of thorium and
The opposite is anhedral (also known as xenomorphic or allotriomorphic), which describes rock with a microstructure composed of mineral grains that have no well-formed crystal faces or cross-section shape in thin section. Anhedral crystal growth occurs in a competitive environment with no free space for the formation of crystal faces.
Monazite can form in fabrics caused by deformation. Monazite may be present as elongate grains aligned in foliation. It can be interpreted that either the monazite formed before the shearing and was aligned during shearing, or formed at the same time as the shearing. [3] It thus provides an upper limit of the shearing age.
It is the cerium-dominant analogue of monazite-(La), monazite-(Nd), and monazite-(Sm). It is also the phosphorus analogue of gasparite-(Ce). [ 3 ] The group contains simple rare earth phosphate minerals with the general formula of AXO 4 , where A = Ce, La, Nd, or Sm (or, rarely, Bi), and X = P or, rarely, As.
Monazite-(Sm) is an exceedingly rare representative of the monazite group, with samarium being the dominant rare earth element in its structure. It is the samarium analogue of monazite-(Ce), monazite-(La), and monazite-(Nd). It is only the second known mineral with samarium being the mineral-forming element, after florencite-(Sm). [3]
Undulose extinction or undulatory extinction is a geological term referring to the type of extinction that occurs in certain minerals when examined in thin section under cross polarized light. As the microscope stage is rotated, individual mineral grains appear black when the polarization due to the mineral prevents any light from passing through.
In the study of metamorphic petrology, uranium–thorium–lead dating of monazite (monazite geochronology) is an effective method to determine the P-T history. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] Monazite is a phosphate mineral containing light rare-earth-elements (LREE) that occurs in a wide range of rock types. [ 31 ]
Thin sections are prepared in order to investigate the optical properties of the minerals in the rock. This work is a part of petrology and helps to reveal the origin and evolution of the parent rock. A photograph of a rock in thin section is often referred to as a photomicrograph.