Apatite

Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals with the general formula Ca₅(PO₄)₃(F,Cl,OH). Its members are major sources of phosphorus and include the mineral that forms much of vertebrate teeth and bones.

Phosphate mineral: A mineral whose composition includes the phosphate group PO₄. Apatite is the most important phosphate-mineral group by abundance and economic use.
Phosphate rock: A sedimentary rock rich in phosphate minerals, mined chiefly to produce fertilizer. Apatite supplies most of the phosphorus in economically mined phosphate rock.
Isomorphous substitution: Replacement of one ion by another in a mineral structure without changing its overall structural type. Apatite's anion channels allow fluorine, chlorine, and hydroxyl to substitute for one another.
Bone mineral: The mineral component of bone, composed mainly of calcium-deficient, carbonated hydroxylapatite. Bone mineral is a biological apatite with substitutions and defects absent from ideal hydroxylapatite.
Monazite: A rare-earth phosphate mineral, commonly containing cerium or lanthanum. It is another important phosphate ore, but its chemistry and crystal structure differ from apatite.
Fluorapatite: An apatite mineral in which fluorine occupies the principal anion site. It is the most common natural apatite and a major component of phosphate rock.
Phosphorus: A chemical element essential to living organisms and widely used in fertilizers and industry. Apatite deposits are the principal mineral source of phosphorus.
Solid solution: A single crystalline phase whose composition varies through substitution among compatible elements or ions. Apatite forms compositional series rather than only perfectly pure end-members.
Apatite fission-track dating: A thermochronological method that uses damage trails from uranium fission in apatite crystals to reconstruct cooling histories. Apatite records when rocks cooled through temperatures at which its fission tracks anneal.
Pyromorphite: A lead chlorophosphate mineral that commonly forms bright green or brown crystals. It shares phosphate chemistry and can resemble apatite, but contains lead and has a distinct structure.

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