Where it forms, where it's found
- Geological setting
in "psilomelane" with other manganese oxides in an iron oxide deposit, probably bacterially altered from a previous mineral
- Type locality
- Akhtenskoe Fe deposit (Akhtenskoye)
- Magnitka
- Kusinsky District
- Chelyabinsk Oblast
- Russia
6recorded occurrences
Physical
- Transparency
- Opaque
- Colour
- Light grey to black
- Streak
- black
- Cleavage
- Distinct/Good
on (001)
- Density
- 4.78 g/cm³
Optical
- Optical type
- Uniaxial
Crystallography
- Space group
- #126
- Cell parameters
- a = 2.84(1) Å · c = 4.67(20) Å
- Z
- 1
- Morphology
as microscopic crystals, flaky to platy on (001), in parallel aggregates, sometimes in rows at 120°, probably due to replacement of an earlier hexagonal mineral; as flaky polycrystalline aggregates
- Comment
Handbook of Mineralogy gives range: a = 2.83–2.85, c = 4.47–4.88 Å.
Crystal structure
Chemical composition
Synonyms
- Akhtenskiet
- Akhtenskitt
- IMA1982-072
In other languages
- French
- akhtenskite
- German
- Akhtenskit · IMA 1982-072
- Italian
- akhtenskite
- Japanese
- アフテンスク鉱
- Chinese
- 六方软锰矿
Classification
Strunz
10th ed.4.DB.15b
- 4OxidesClass
- 4.DMetal: Oxygen = 1:2 and similarDivision
- 4.DBWith medium-sized cations; chains of edge-sharing octahedraGroup
- 4.DB.15bAkhtenskiteSpecies
Dana
8th ed.04.04.10.01
- 04Simple OxidesClass
- 04.04AX2Type
- 04.04.10— unnamed intermediate level —Group
- 04.04.10.01AkhtenskiteSpecies
CIM
—7.18.5
- 7Oxides and HydroxidesClass
- 7.18Oxides of MnGroup
- 7.18.5AkhtenskiteSpecies
Group, growth & confusion
Literature, links & citation
Citations
- 1987Chukhrov, F.V., Gorshkov, A.I., Drits, V.S. (1987) Advances in the crystal chemistry of manganese oxides. Zapiski Vsesoyuznogo Mineralogicheskogo Obshchestva: 16: 210-221. [in Russian]
- 1987Chukhrov, F.V., Gorshkov, A.I., Drits, V.S. (1987) Advances in the crystal chemistry of manganese oxides. International Geology Review: 29: 435-444.
- 1989Chukhrov, F.V., Gorshkov, A.I., Sivtsov, A.V., Berezovskaya, V.V., Dikov, Y.P., Dubinina, G.A., Varinov, N.N. (1989) Akhtenskite - the natural analog of ε-MnO2. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geol.: 9: 75-80. [in Russian]
- 1989Chukhrov, F.V., Gorshkov, A.I., Sivtsov, A.V., Berezovskaya, V.V., Dikov, Y.P., Dubinina, G.A., Varinov, N.N. (1989) Akhtenskite - the natural analog of ε-MnO2. International Geology Review: 31: 1068-1072.
- 1989Chukhrov, F.V., Gorshkov, A.I., Sivtsov, A.V., Berezovskaya, V.V., Dikov, Y.P., Dubinina, G.A., Varinov, N.N. (1989) Akhtenskite - the natural analog of ε-MnO2. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geol.: 9: 75-80.
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
author = {Mineral Index editorial board},
title = {Akhtenskite — Mineral Index},
year = {2026},
url = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/akhtenskite-71},
note = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}