{{Infobox mineral | name = Sonolite | category = Silicate minerals | boxwidth = | boxbgcolor = | image = Zincite-Manganosite-Sonolite-21568.jpg | imagesize = 260px | caption = Sonolite (in bottom left corner) with zincite and manganosite | formula = Mn<sub>9</sub>(SiO<sub>4</sub>)<sub>4</sub>(OH,F)<sub>2</sub> | IMAsymbol = Snl<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Warr|first=L.N.|date=2021|title=IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols|journal=Mineralogical Magazine|volume=85|issue=3|pages=291–320|doi=10.1180/mgm.2021.43|bibcode=2021MinM...85..291W|s2cid=235729616|doi-access=free}}</ref> | molweight = | strunz = 9.AF.55 | dana = 52.3.2d.3 | system = Monoclinic | class = Prismatic (2/m) <br/><small>(same H-M symbol)</small> | symmetry = ''P''2<sub>1</sub>/b<ref name=handbook/> | unit cell = a = 4.87&nbsp;Å, b = 10.66&nbsp;Å <br/>c = 14.28&nbsp;Å <br/>β = 100.3°, Z&nbsp;=&nbsp;2<ref name=handbook/> | color = Red-orange, pinkish brown to dark brown<br>Colorless in thin section<ref name=handbook>{{cite web|title=Sonolite|url=http://www.handbookofmineralogy.com/pdfs/sonolite.pdf|work=Handbook of Mineralogy|publisher=Mineral Data Publishing|access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> | habit = | twinning = Common, singular or lamellar on {101}<ref name=handbook/> | cleavage = | fracture = | tenacity = | mohs = 5.5 | luster = Vitreous, dull | polish = | refractive = n<sub>α</sub> = 1.765<br>n<sub>β</sub> = 1.778<br>n<sub>γ</sub> = 1.787 | opticalprop = Biaxial (−) | birefringence = δ = 0.022 | 2V = 75° to 82° (measured) | dispersion = r > v<ref name=handbook/> | pleochroism = | fluorescence= | absorption = | streak = | gravity = | density = 3.82–4.00 (measured)<ref name=handbook/> | melt = | fusibility = | diagnostic = | solubility = | diaphaneity = Transparent to translucent<ref name=webmin>{{cite web|title=Sonolite|url=http://webmineral.com/data/Sonolite.shtml|publisher=Webmineral|access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> | other = | references = <ref name=mindat>{{cite web|title=Sonolite|url=http://www.mindat.org/min-3711.html|publisher=Mindat|access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> }}

'''Sonolite''' is a mineral with formula Mn<sub>9</sub>(SiO<sub>4</sub>)<sub>4</sub>(OH,F)<sub>2</sub>. The mineral was discovered in 1960 in the Sono mine in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. In 1963, it was identified as a new mineral and named after the Sono mine.

==Description== Sonolite is transparent to translucent<ref name=webmin/> and is red-orange, pinkish brown to dark brown in color and colorless in thin sections. The mineral has a granular habit or occurs as prismatic to anhedral crystals up to {{convert|2.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name=handbook/> Sonolite is the manganese analogue of clinohumite,{{sfn|Yoshinaga|1963|p=1}} a dimorph of jerrygibbsite,<ref name=handbook/> and a member of the humite group.<ref name=mindat/>

The mineral occurs in metamorphosed manganese-rich deposits. Sonolite has been found in association with calcite, chlorite, franklinite, galaxite, manganosite, pyrochroite, rhodochrosite, tephroite, willemite, and zincite.<ref name=handbook/>

==History== In 1960, Mayumi Yoshinaga was investigating alleghanyite and other manganese orthosilicates in Japan. He discovered a dull, red-brown mineral on the first level ore body of the Sono Mine, and later from a number of other sites.{{sfn|Yoshinaga|1963|p=1}} Using samples from ten locations in Japan and one in Taiwan, the mineral was described in 1963 and identified as a new mineral species.{{sfn|Yoshinaga|1963|pp=1–2}} It was named ''sonolite'' after the mine in which it was first found and the name was approved by the International Mineralogical Association.<ref name=mindat/>{{sfn|Yoshinaga|1963|p=1}}

==Distribution== {{As of|2012}}, sonolite has been found in Austria, France, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States.<ref name=mindat/> The type material is held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.<ref name=handbook/>

==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Bibliography=== *{{cite journal|last=Yoshinaga|first=Mayumi|title=Sonolite, a New Manganese Silicate Mineral|journal=Memoirs of the Faculty of Science, Kyushu University|date=January 25, 1963|volume=14|issue=1|pages=1–21|url=http://rruff.info/uploads/MFSKUSD14_1.pdf|access-date=June 20, 2012}}

==Further reading== *{{cite journal|last=Cook|first=David|title=Sonolite, Alleghanyite and Leucophoenicite from New Jersey|journal=American Mineralogist|date=September–October 1969|volume=54|issue=9 & 10|pages=1392–1398|url=http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM54/AM54_1392.pdf}}

==External links== {{Commonscat-inline|Sonolite}}

Category:Monoclinic minerals Category:Minerals in space group 14 Category:Manganese(II) minerals Category:Nesosilicates Category:Hydroxide minerals Category:Fluorine minerals