Staringite Discredited

Lee A. Groat*, Andrew Putnis, Stephen A. Kissin, T. Scott Ercit, Frank C. Hawthorne and Richard V. Gaines
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, U.K.
Department of Geology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 5E1, Canada
Canadian Museum of Nature, Mineral Sciences Section, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4, Canada
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada
Rt. 1, Box 69, Earlysville, Virginia 22936, U.S.A.
*Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada

Abstract: Detailed examination of ‘staringite’ by X-ray precession photography and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows it to consist of a sub-microscopic intergrowth of cassiterite and tapiolite. ‘Staringite’ is discredited as a valid mineral species.

Keywords: staringite • Ta/Nb oxide minerals • pegmatites • transmission electron microscopy

Mineralogical Magazine; June 1994 v. 58; no. 391; p. 271-277; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1994.058.391.09
© 1994, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)