Sapozhnikovite

Na8(Al6Si6O24)(HS)2
IMA status
  • Approved
IMA symbol
Spz
Also known as
  • Sapozhnikoviet

Where it forms, where it's found

Geological setting

Hydrothermally altered urtite-like rock.

Type locality
Karnasurt Mountain
  1. Lovozersky District
  2. Murmansk Oblast
  3. Russia

67.8808°, 34.6817°

1recorded occurrences
Source · OpenStreetMap

Physical

Hardness
123456789105.5/ 10 MOHS
  1. 1Talc
  2. 2Gypsum
  3. 3Calcite
  4. 4Fluorite
  5. 5Apatite
  6. 6Orthoclase
  7. 7Quartz
  8. 8Topaz
  9. 9Corundum
  10. 10Diamond
Colour
Colourless to pale grayish
Streak
White
Tenacity
brittle
Cleavage
Imperfect/Fair

on (110)

Density
2.25 g/cm³

Optical

UV response
330 nm (LWUV): strong, orange; 245 nm (SWUV): weak, yellow-orange
Isotropy testPPL ↔ XPL diagnostic
PPL intrinsic colour; no change on stage rotation
XPL extinct at every orientation

Crystallography

Crystal system
Isometric
Space group
#212
Cell parameters
a = 8.91462(7) Å
Z
1
Type-locality form

Isolated, anhedral equant grains, up to 5 mm in size.

Chemical composition

Constituent elements
Mass composition breakdown
ElementAtoms At. mass g/mol Mass g/molMass share
8OOxygenOxygen2415.999383.976
39.81%
11NaSodiumSodium822.990183.920
19.07%
14SiSiliconSilicon628.085168.510
17.47%
13AlAluminiumAluminium626.982161.892
16.79%
16SSulfurSulfur232.06064.120
6.65%
1HHydrogenHydrogen21.0082.016
0.21%
Total964.434100.00%

Mass share = atoms × atomic mass ÷ molar mass × 100

From IMA formula

Synonyms

  • Sapozhnikoviet

In other languages

German
IMA 2021-030 · Sapozhnikovit

Classification

Strunz
10th ed.

9.FB

  • 9SilicatesClass
  • 9.FTektosilicates without zeolitic H2ODivision
  • 9.FBTektosilicates with additional anionsGroup
  • 9.FBSapozhnikoviteSpecies

Group, growth & confusion

Commonly confused with
1 mineral

Literature, links & citation

Citations
  1. 2021Miyawaki, Ritsuro, Hatert, Frédéric, Pasero, Marco, Mills, Stuart J. (2021) Newsletter 62. Mineralogical Magazine, 85 (4) 634-638 doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.62DOI: 10.1180/mgm.2021.62
  2. 2022(2022) Sapozhnikovite. Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America
  3. 2022Chukanov, Nikita V., Zubkova, Natalia V., Pekov, Igor V., Shendrik, Roman Yu., Varlamov, Dmitry A., Vigasina, Marina F., Belakovskiy, Dmitry I., Britvin, Sergey N., Yapaskurt, Vasiliy O., Pushcharovsky, Dmitry Yu. (2022) Sapozhnikovite, Na8(Al6Si6O24)(HS)2, a new sodalite-group mineral from the Lovozero alkaline massif, Kola Peninsula. Mineralogical Magazine, 86 (1) 49-59 doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.94DOI: 10.1180/mgm.2021.94
  4. 2023Shchipalkina, Nadezhda V., Vereshchagin, Oleg S., Chukanov, Nikita V., Gorelova, Liudmila A., Bocharov, Vladimir N., Pekov, Igor V. (2023) High-temperature behavior of the UV-luminescent sodalite-type natural compound Na8(Al6Si6O24)(HS)2: Comparative study by in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 323. 124067 doi:10.1016/j.jssc.2023.124067DOI: 10.1016/j.jssc.2023.124067
  5. 2025Bogdanov, Aleksandr I.; Chukanov, Nikita V.; Shendrik, Roman Yu.; Pekov, Igor V. (2025) Spectroscopic Properties of Polysulfide Anions, Radical Anions, and Molecules: Ab Initio Calculations and Application to Minerals of the Sodalite and Cancrinite Groups. Minerals, 15 (11). 1207 doi:10.3390/min15111207DOI: 10.3390/min15111207
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
  author    = {Mineral Index editorial board},
  title     = {Sapozhnikovite — Mineral Index},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/sapozhnikovite-55543},
  note      = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}