Rutherfordine
Rutherfordine is a mineral containing almost pure uranyl carbonate (UO2CO3). It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system in translucent lathlike, elongated, commonly radiating in fibrous, and in pulverulent, earthy to very fine-grained dense masses. It has a specific gravity of 5.7 and exhibits two directions of cleavage. It appears as brownish, brownish yellow, white, light brown orange, or light yellow fluorescent encrustations. It is also known as "diderichite."

It was first described in 1906 for an occurrence in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. It was named for Ernest Rutherford. It has been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Northern Territory of Australia and a variety of locations worldwide.

It occurs as a secondary mineral as a weathering product of uraninite. In addition to uraninite it occurs associated with the rare minerals becquerelite, masuyite, schoepite, kasolite, curite, boltwoodite, vandendriesscheite, billietite, metatorbernite, fourmarierite, studtite and sklodowskite. It forms under acidic to neutral pH and is the only known mineral that contains only uranyl and carbonate.
Q7946
mineral
Concept
Q7899763
uranyl carbonate
Concept
Q1098
U
Concept
Q629
O
Concept
Q623
C
Concept
Q648961
orthorhombic
Concept
Q11027905
specific gravity
Concept
Q191807
fluorescent
Concept
Q458388
Morogoro Region
LOC
Q924
Tanzania
LOC
Q9123
Ernest Rutherford
PER
Q974
Democratic Republic of Congo
LOC
Q3235
Northern Territory
LOC
Q408
Australia
LOC
Q206467
uraninite
Concept
Q3637404
becquerelite
Concept
Q769232
masuyite
UNK
Q408600
schoepite
Concept
None
kasolite
UNK
Q416942
curite
Concept
Q3641922
boltwoodite
Concept
None
vandendriesscheite
UNK
Q3640019
billietite
Concept
Q946311
metatorbernite
Concept
Q3749147
fourmarierite
Concept
Q183103
studtite
Concept
Q1075665
sklodowskite
Concept
Q40936
pH
Concept
Q421141
uranyl
Concept
Q181699
carbonate
Concept
Q1062549
Rutherfordine
Concept
1906-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1906
DATE
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+3^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
3
NUMBER
+5.7^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
5.7
NUMBER
crystal system
named after
country
country