The Lovozero pluton (Kola Peninsula, Russia) is an unique object from the standpoint of the abundance, diversity, and originality
of Th mineralization. In contrast to other igneous rocks and to such chemical elements as Ca, REE, U, and Na, Th in the hyperalkaline
pegmatites and hydrothermalites of the Lovozero pluton commonly occurs as its own mineral phases. Umbozerite Na
3Sr
4Th(Mn,Zn,Fe,Mg)[Si
8O
24](OH) (7 samples), Ti-Th silicate Na
0–7Sr
0–1ThTi
1–2Si
8O
22–23(OH) ·
nH
2O (8 samples), Na-Th silicate (Na,K)
4Th
3[Si
8(O,OH)
24] ·
nH
2O (6 samples), thorite (2 samples), steenstrupine-(Ce)-thorosteenstrupine series minerals (5 samples), and Th phosphate (Th,Na,K,Ca,Mg,U,Sr,Ba)[(P,Si,
Al)
1O
4] ·
nH
2O (1 sample) were investigated in this study. Ti-Th silicates and Th phosphate have been described for the first time. All
of the above-mentioned minerals have been examined with electron microprobe, IR spectroscopy, powder diffraction, thermogravimetric
and optical methods. High-Th minerals such as steenstrupine, umbozerite, Th phosphate, and Na-Th silicates crystallized mainly
during the ussingite stage of the pegmatite-forming process. At the early hydrothermal high-alkaline stage, steenstrupine
was replaced with REE and Th aggregates (belovite, vitusite, seidite, Na-Th silicates, Ti-Th silicates, etc.). Thorite, Ti-Th
silicates, and minerals of the rhabdophane and monazite groups were formed at the late hydrothermal low-alkaline stage. Despite
the metamict features of almost all samples, stoichiometric ratios of cations in umbozerites and Ti-Th silicates remain stable.
Clear relationships have been revealed between umbozerites and Ti-Th silicates, on the one hand, and seidite-(Ce), a Ti-silicate
that has a zeolite-like structure, on the other. This implies that, under certain conditions, these minerals may be regarded
as potential suppliers of Th to the environment due to the leaching of Th from zeolite channels.
Original Russian Text © V.N. Ermolaeva, I.V. Pekov, N.V. Chukanov, A.E. Zadov, 2007, published in Zapiski Rossiiskogo Mineralogicheskogo
Obshchestva, 2007, Pt CXXXVI, No. 1, pp. 3–25.