GEOLOGIA CROATICA 45 63-68 10 Fig. 2 Tab. ZAGREB 1992 

UDC 552.08:548:549.655(497.17) Scientific paper 

Crystallographic Determination of Titanite from Smilevski Dol in 
Selečka Mountain, Macedonia 

Vladimir ZEBEC and Biserka RADANOVIĆ-GUŽVICA 

Key words: titanite, morphology, crystal forms, Smilevski 
Dol 

On 30 crystal s of titani tc, goniometrically measured, the appearance 
of faces of 25 forms was determined. Crystallographic elements were 
calculated and morphology and paragenesis of minerals were described. 
The shape of the crystals was represented by ten parallel perspec· 
tive figures. Two types of crystal s were separated. 

l. INTRODUCTION 

Numerous pegmatitic and pegmatite-hydrothermal 
veins were found in the granites and gneisses of Selečka 
Mountain. Some of them often contain well-formed 
crystals. One such vein was found about 2.5 km s south­
-west from the village Dunje on the southern side of 
the hiJiock G omi Kamen ( elevation 636) near by the spring 
Sohlehov Kladence in Smilevski Dol. This vein con­
tains hydrothermally deposited well-formed crystals of 
albi te, epidote, titani te, amphiboles with somewhat less 
of quartz, muscovite, heulandite and stilbite, pyrite, 
apatite, microcline and chlorite. Lj. BARIĆ (1958) gave 
the short description of some minerals from this locality. 
Crystals of al bite (RAFF AELLI, 1961 ), ep i dote (ZEBEC, 
1984) and stilbite and heulandite (TIBUAS et al., 1987) 
have been in detail e laborated up today. On one of 
specially yellow and clear crystal of titani te BARIĆ (1958) 
determined the following forms: {100}, { 110}, { 021}, 
(111}, (i12}, (Ill}, (212} and (132}. 

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE 

The investigated material was chosen after the re­
view of all collected crystals by stereomicroscope. The 
crystals chosen for the quality of their faces could be 
a solid basis for the precise determination of the 
crystallographic constants which were estimated by 
goniometric measurements. Goniometric measurements 
were performed on the two-circular reflecting goniometcr 
(model A by Goldschmidt). Measurements were per­
formed at a polar setting of both sides of a crystal, if 
it was possible. The obtained data were middling and 
if conditions of the observations allowed, were used 
for determination of the crystallographic elements. The 
remaining data were used for identification of the 
measured faces. 

Ključne riječi: titanit, morfologija, kristalne forme, 
Smilevski Dol 

Na 30 goniometrijski mjerenih kristala titanita određeno je prisustvo 
ploha 25 formi. Izračunati su kristalografski elementi te opisana 
morfologija i parageneza. Izgled krista la prikazan je u 10 paralelno 
perspektivnih slika. Izdvojena su dva tipa kristala. 

3. MATERIAL 

The material was predominantly collected by prof. 
Lj. Barić in 1952., whereas a certain part was collected 
and ceded by M. Galeski and Z. Gruevski. 

The elaborated material is being kept in the collection 
of Mineralogic-petrographic Department of Croatian 
Museum of Natural History in Zagreb, inven tary numbers: 

600:ZAG;5781 :MP l , 
600:ZAG;5782:MP1, 
600:ZAG;7711:MP1 
600:ZAG;7712:MP1. 

4. THE RESULTS OF GONIOMETRIC 
MEASUREMENTS 

30 crystals of titanite, size from 2 to 8 mm s, were 
chosen for goniometric measurements. The orientation 
by Descloizeaux was taken. Determination of the faces 
was performed by gnomon projection. The faces of 25 
forms were determined on the measured crystals of the 
titanite. A review of form combinations on single crystal s 
is shown in Table l. 

The faces of the forms l41 O), { 364} and ( 564} were 
not determined up to now, in the reference which was 
disposable to as (Mineraly III/l, 1972). The results with 
the optimal conditions of measurements are shown in 
Table 2. 

5. CALCULATION OF CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC 
ELEMENTS 

The elements of gnomon projection were calculated 
from the best values obtained by measurements (Table 
2) as suggested by GOLDSCHMIDT (1934): 

x; = 0,570260 
p 

0

1 = l ,303487 
q; = 0,854633 

Then, the polar elements were calculated from elements 
Minerulogic·pctrographic Department of Croatian Museum of Natural History, Demetrova l, 41000 Zagreb, C roatia 
Mineraloško·petrografski odjel Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog muzeja Demetrova l , 41000 Zagreb, Hrvatska 



.,., 
v 
~ 

·:::: 
e 
u .. 
"Oj, 
o 
] 
o 

~ 

simbol 
of form crystal num. (kristal br.) 
(simbol 
forme) l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ll 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 

001 + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
010 + + 
100 + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
410 · + 
310 + + + + + + + + + t. + 
520 + + + 
110 + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
130 + 
021 + + + + + + + + + 
101 + + + + 
"102 + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
ll l + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

.. llJ + 
±14 + 
.!12 + + + + + + + + + + + 
±ll + + + + + + + + + + + + 
2 2'1 
212 + + + + + + + + + + + + 
131 + 
122 + 
364 + 
~6.4 + 
!3~ + + + + + + + 
312 + 
35·4 + 

fi~i .. 
(sL) 6 9 ? · 8 l 

___ _.___ ____ - -----

Table L Tita~te, Smilevski Dol, review of combination of the forms on single crystals 
Tablica l. Titanit, Smi.J.evski ol, pregled kombinacija formi na pojedinim kris~a 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

+ +. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

+ + + + + + 
+ 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

+ + + + + + + + + 
+ + 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

+ + + + + 
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + 

+ + + + + . + + + + + + + + 
+ + + 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

+ + + + + + + 

2. s 3 4 lO 



Zebec & Radanović-Gužvica : Crystallographic Detrrninati9n of Titanite ... 

nm bol number of variation 
of form (kolebanja) 
(simbol observation 
forme) (broj opažanja) <p p 
001 ll 89°48'- 90°20' l'J"37'- 30"03. 

ll O 1 56.41'- s6•s8 · 9o•oo· 

ll O s 77°19'- 77"57' 9o•oo· 

102 14 89.56'- 9o•o5· so•21·- 5o•4&' 

111 ll 65°25'- . 65°36' 63°59'- 64"15' 

111 1 Jn•n·-319"37' 48"22'- 48"29' 

I12 9 348°56 '-349°35' 23'24'- 23'37' 

Table 2. Titanite, Smilevski Dol, review of the best value. 

of gnomon projection: 
x, = 0,4954 
Po= 1,1323 
q. = 0,7424 
Ilo= 60° 18,5' 

Linear elements of the titanite from Smilevski Dol, 
calculated from polar elements, were: 

a:b:c = 0,7548 : i: 0,8546 P= 119' 41,5' 
The obtained result corresponds well with the data found 
in literature: 

a:b:c = 0,7547: l : 0,8540 P= 119' 43' 
(GOLDSCHMIDT, 1897). 

6. MORPHOLOGY OF CRYSTALS 

Titanite and epidote form the best shaped crystals 
of the vein association, and this was the reason why 
quantitative crystallometric determination was done. 
Crystals are of different size, from l to 40 mms, and 
are predominantly elon gated in direction of zone made 
by the faces of form ( 111} , that is, in direction [i O l] 
. An exception was a crystal which was shortened in 
this direction (Fig. 10). Roughly, speaking, two types 
of crystals can be separated : one with well-formed faces 
of prism of general position { 114}, and strongly well­
-formed faces of form (001} and the other without the 
faces of form { 114}, with slightly outstanded faces of 
fonn (001}. Among measured crystals prcdominant are 
those from the second group (4/5 of measured crystals). 
Faces of the forms ( 102} i (212} give specific habitus 
to crystals. The faces of the forms {OO l } , { l OO} and { 111 } 
were noticed on all crystal s. The faces of the forms ( 31 O} , 
{110}, (021}, {102}, {112}, {111}, (212} and {132} 
were very frequent.The faces of the forms {010}, {520}, 
{ 10 l } , { 114} and ( 221 } were rare l y observed. The faces 
offorms (410}, (130}, {113}, (131}, (122}, (364}, 
{ 564}, (312} and {~54} were observed on only one 
crystal. The quality of the faces, even of the faces of 
the same form on the same crystal was usually differ­
ent. This was, particularly evident on different crys­
tals. Some crystals were partially subjected to dissolution. 
Together with shiny faces the faces corroded by dis­
solution were also found, especially in their central parts. 
The best example was the face of the form ( 100} which 
could range in quality from shiny and ideal smooth to 

mean value calculated value 
(srednja vrijednost) (izračunata vrijednost) 

<p p <p p 

89"59'36'. 29"46'17" 90"00' 29"41'40'. 

s6•so•37'' 90"00' 56°44.57 •• 9o•oo• 

77°36'26'' go•oo• 77"40'19'. 90"00' 

90"00' 12'' 50°41'27'' 90"00' 50•42 • 21' • 

65°3'4'0~·. 64°05' 33 •• 65"28'59'. 64°06'02" 

319"23'00'' 48°31'05'' 319°22'12'' 48"23'36'' 

349"16'42'. 23"31' 24 .. 349"12'06'. 23•30'33'. 

Tablica 2. Titanit, Smilevski Dol, pregled najboljih vrijednosti. 

striated and even hieroglyphically coroded ones. The 
curving of described elongation zone in the plane of 
symmetry was noticed on bigger crystals. A free part 
of one crystal was curved for about 20° toward [100) 
(600:ZAG;5781:MP1). So, in the attempt to better show 
the morphology of titani te crystals from Smilevski Dol, 
besides appart from the Table l, which shows the presence 
of the combination of faces of particular forms, paral­
lel perspective figures of first (Figs. 1-4) and second 
type of characteristic crystals (Figs. 5-10) were con­
structed. 

It is interesting that in whole material, in neither 
of the cases the twins of titanite were registered. 

7. PARAGENESIS 

The beginning of crystallization of titanite, in our 
case, began after the crystallization of muscovite, pyrite, 
older and main parts of plagioclases, amphiboles and 
older epidote. The youngest minerals (albite, apatite, 
part of amphiboles, epidote and chlorites) were crys­
tallized together with titanite. Microcline and zeolites 
were younger of titanite. 

Titanite appears abundantly, predominantly with 
amphibole, which, by its optical characteristics, can be 
determined as hornblende. 

The interacting relation between the two noticed types 
of crystals of titanite could not have been determined. 

For the other titanic minerals, very rarely, tiny crystals 
of rutile could have been found. 

On some ciystals of titanite, chlorite inclusion were 
found abundantly. 

8. CONCLUSION 

Well-formed crystals of titanite from Smilevski Dol 
near Dunje in Selečka Mountain originated from hydro­
thermal veins of alpic type with the following paragen­
esis: muscovite, albite, pyrite, hornblende, epidote, apa­
tite, chlorite, microcline, heulandite and stilbite. On the 
examined crystals a prcsence of the faces of 25 forms were 
determined {Table l). These crystalographic elements were 
determined: 

a:b:c = 0,7548 : l : 0,8546 P=119' 41,5'. 
Two types of titanite crystals were separated. The (irs t 
type is shown in Figures 1-4, and the second one in Figures 
5-10. Their interacting relation was not determined. 



66 

Fig. l -4. Titani te, Srni l evski Dol, crystal s of the firs t type. 
Slika 1-4. Titanit, Smilevski Dol, kristali prvog tipa. 

9. REFERENCES 

BARIC, Lj. (1958): Mineralienfundort in Smilevski Dol 
bei Dunje in Mazedonien.- Bull. Sci. Cons. Acad. 
Yougosl.4/l, l, Zagreb. 

GOLDSCHMIDT, V. (1897): Krystalographi sche 
Winkeltabellen.- Verlag von Julius Springer, 344 
p ., Berlin. 

GOLDSCHMIDT, V. (1934): KursusderKristallomeLrie. 
-Verlag von gebruder Borntraeger, Berlin. 

Mineraly ,Tom III, vyp., I. - Akademija nauk SSSR, 

Geologia Croatica 45 

"Nauka",1972, Moskva. 
RAFFAELLI, P. (1961): Albite from Smilevski Dol in 

Selečka Mountain, Macedonia.- Geološki vjesnik, 
14, 133-142, Zagreb. 

TIBUAS, D., ZEBEC, V. & BERMANEC, V. (1987): 
Zeolite occurrence in the vein mineral paragenesis 
near Dunje, Macedonia.- Geološki vjesnik, 40, 
81-87, Zagre b. 

ZEBEC, V. (1 984): Epidot von Smilevski Dol bei Dunje 
im Selečka-Gebirge (Mazedonien).- Geologica 
Macedonica, 1/1, 63-122, Š tip. 



Zebec & Radanović-Gužvica : Crystallographic Dctrrnination of Titanite ... 

Fig. 5-8. Titani te, Smilevski Dol, crystal s of the second type. 
Slika 5-8. Titanit, Smilevski Dol, kristali drugog tipa. 

-
67 



68 Geologia Croatica 45 

. Fig. 9~10. Titanite, Smilevski Dol, crystals· of th~ second type . ." 
Slika 9-10. Titanit, Smilevski Dol, kristali drugog tipa. 

Kristalografska određivanja na titanitu"iz Smilevskog Dola na Selečkoj planini, 
Makedonija 

V. Zebec i B. ~adanović-Gužvica 

U granitima i gnajseviina Selečke planine nalaze se brojne · 
pegmatitne i pegmatitno-hidrotennalne žice. Jedna takva žica · 
otkrivena je oko 2,5.km jugozapadno od sela Dunje, na južnoj 
Slrnni l,IZ~ Gomi Kamen (kota 636).u blizini izvom ~ov 
1\laden~ u Smilevskom Dolu. Ta žica sadrži, hi9rote~o 

. odložene.oo~razvitre~albita.~tilanitiamfioola · 
sa ncltO manje kremena, m usko vila, heulandita.i stilbit<i, pirila, .. 
apatiti, mikroldina i klorita. · 

Za goo.iometri jska istraživanja izabrano je 30 kristala ti !anita 
veličineod.2do8 mm. UzetajeorijenlaCija po Descloizeaux:­
u, IndiCiran je ploha izvršeno je iz gnomonske projekcije. Na · 
mjer~ini kristalima ovog tilanita pritom su utvrđene ·plohe . 
25 formi. Pregled kombinacija fonni na pojedinim kristalima : 

· danje u tabliCi l. Plohefonni {410), {364) i {564), u nama·. 
. dostupnoj literaturi; nisu do sada određene {Mineraly lli/l, 
. 1972). {) tablici 2 predočeni su rezullati sa najpovoljnijim 

uvjetima mjerenja . 
Na temelju najboljih, mjerenjem polučenih vrijednosti, 

izračunati su kristalografski elementi: 
. . a:b:c = 0,7548: l: 0,8546 ~119' 41,.5' 
Kristali titani ta iz Smilevskog Dola uglavnom su izduženi 

· smjeromzoneštojučineplohefonne {ll l) ~. smjeront [iOl]. 
Grubo se mogu izdvojiti dva tipa kristala: 1.) oni sa razvijenim 
plohamafonne {114) ijačerazvitimplohamafonne {001) 

(Sl. l -4) i 2.-)oni bez ploha fonne 114 ; pri čemu su i plohe 
fonne (001)' sfabije iZražene (SLS~ 10). Među izmjerenim 
kristalima prevl~tlavaju oni iz druge skupine (4/5 izmjerenih 

. kristala). Njfhova m~usobna veza nije određena. 
Neke kijstale je dijylom z3hva~lo i otapanje, pa pored 

sjajnih ploha nal~imo i otapanjem izjedene plohe, naročito 
u njiho~om centralnom dijelu.' 

. Na .većim kristalima zam jeće no je savij an je osi opisane 
. zone izduženja u ravnini simetrije. Slobodni kraj kristala pri 
tom. je savinut za oko 20 prema [100]: 

·Počelaklcristal.izxije tilanita; u ovom slučaju, treba smjestiti 
iza kristalizacije muskovita, pirita te starijeg i glavnog' dijela 
plagioklasa, am fi bola i starijeg epidota. Zajedno sa titanitom 
kristalizirati su najmlađi al bit, apatit, dio amfibola, epidot i 
klorit Mlađi od tilanita s~ mikroklin i zeoliti. 

Od drugih titanskih minerala vrlo rijetko može se naići 
na sirne kristaliće rutila . .. 

Na nekim ·kristalima titani ta iz Smilevskog Dola obilnije 
je konstatitan klorit kao uklopak u titanitu. 

Manuscript received March, 31. 1992. 
Revised manuscript accepted June, 23. 1992.