The Identification by X-rays of Heavy Minerals in Fairlight (Sussex) and other Glass-making Sands

JSGT 1945 V29 T258-T265

It is shown that the magnetic minerals in Fairlight, Sussex, sand are an iron-rich spinel-type phase, which apparently bears the chromium, and a mineral of distorted rutile type structure, which has been termed ferro-rutile. Ferro-rutile is the main magnetic phase in some other British sands, but in many Continental sands a third well-crystallised iron-bearing mineral, identified as an iron-rich tourmaline, is the most prominent constituent. True ilmenite is not found in substantial amount in the sands examined, but there is probably a close mineralogical relationship between ferro-rutile and ilmenite.

H. P. Rooksby