What is "brianite"

n. (context mineral English) A phosphate mineral with the chemical formula Na₂CaMg(PO₄)₂, first identified in an iron meteorite.

Brianite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula NaCaMg(PO). It was first identified in an iron meteorite. This mineral is named after Brian Harold Mason (1917–2009), a pioneer in meteoritics.

It was first reported from the Dayton meteorite in Montgomery County, Ohio in 1966. It occurs in phosphate nodules within the meteorite. Associated minerals include: panethite, whitlockite, albite, enstatite, schreibersite, kamacite, taenite, graphite, sphalerite and troilite.