earth science

Schreyerite

Schreyerite is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Schreyerite rather than just read about it. In short: Schreyerite (V2Ti3O9), is a vanadium, titanium oxide mineral found in the Lasamba Hill, Kwale district in Coast Province, Kenya. It is polymorphous with kyzylkumite.

Key takeaways

Schreyerite belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Schreyerite to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Schreyerite from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Schreyerite (V2Ti3O9), is a vanadium, titanium oxide mineral found in the Lasamba Hill, Kwale district in Coast Province, Kenya. It is polymorphous with kyzylkumite. The mineral occurs as exsolution lamellae and particles in rutile, coexisting with kyanite, sillimanite, and tourmaline in a highly metamorphosed gneiss. It was named after German mineralogist and petrologist Werner Schreyer, for his research on mineralogy of rock-forming minerals and petrology of metamorphic rocks both in nature and by experiment.

Introduction Investigation of deposits of green vanadium-bearing kornerupine, revealed the presence of a new vanadium mineral through observations in reflected light. Schreyerite was first discovered in the Kwale district, Kenya. Polymorphous with kyzylkumite, it occurs in highly twinned unmixed grains in vanadium-bearing rutile that occurs as idiomorphic crystals in kornerupine-bearing quartz-biotite-sillimanite gneiss. It also occurs in a pyrite deposit at Sartra, Sweden, in a Pb-Zn ore deposit at Rampura Agucha, India, and recently in metamorphic rocks of the Ol’khon complex on the western shore of Lake Baikal, Russia. Instead of the usual intergrowths with rutile, single crystals of schreyerite were found, associated with titanite.

Optical and physical properties Schreyerite is a reddish-brown, opaque mineral with metallic luster. Its reflectivity is slightly lower than rutile, and as a result, it is mostly gray. Pleochroism is weak: yellowish brown to reddish brown. When immersed in oil, the contrasts between rutile and schreyerite become clearer, and the color becomes more intense. With crossed polarizers, moderate anisotropism becomes evident, so that the very fine lamellar twinning becomes distinct. It has hardness of 7 and calculated specific gravity of 4.46.

References

Medenbach, O. and K. Schmetzer (1978) Schreyerite, V2Ti3O9, a new mineral. American Mineralogist, Volume 63, pages I182-l186, 1978 Bernhardt, H.-J., K. Schmetzer, and O. Medenbach (1983) Berdesinskiite, V2TiO5, a new mineral from Kenya and additional data for schreyerite, V2Ti3O9. Grey, L E. and A. F. Reid (1972) Shear structure compounds (Cr,Fe)2Tin-2O2n-1, derived from the a-PbO2 structural type. J. Solid State. 4, 186–194 Dobelin N, Reznitsky L Z, Sklyarov E V, Armbruster T, Medenbach OAmerican (2006) Schreyerite, V2Ti3O9: New occurrence and crystal structure. American Mineralogist, (91) 196–202

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schreyerite

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schreyerite claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Schreyerite before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Schreyerite ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Schreyerite

In research: Schreyerite appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Schreyerite in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Schreyerite is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Minerals in space group 15, Monoclinic minerals, Oxide minerals, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schreyerite outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Schreyerite in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schreyerite means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Schreyerite out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schreyerite in simple terms?

Schreyerite (V2Ti3O9), is a vanadium, titanium oxide mineral found in the Lasamba Hill, Kwale district in Coast Province, Kenya. It is polymorphous with kyzylkumite.

Why does Schreyerite matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Schreyerite?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Schreyerite.