Nixonite
A rare sodium-lanthanide titanate named for mantle petrologist Peter Nixon — related to freudenbergite and loparite.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Nixonite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the oxides & hydroxide class, with the chemical formula Na₂Ti₆O₁₃.
It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system (space group C2/m). It is a member of the Jeppeite structural group.
Key properties: [Submetallic.] luster.
IMA symbol Nix, IMA status: approved, named in 2019.
Found in a heavily metasomatized pyroxenite xenolith in kimberlite, perhaps produced by a fractionated Na-rich kimberlitic melt that infiltrated a mantle-derived garnet pyroxenite and reacted with rutile during kimberlite crystallization.
It is found associated with Rutile, priderite, perovskite, freudenbergite, ilmenite.
The mineral was named to honor Peter H. Nixon (b. 1935) retired Professor of Mantle Geology at Leeds University, U.K.