{"title":"Occurrence and crystal chemistry of austinite, conichalcite, and zincolivenite from the Peloritani Mountains, northeastern Sicily, Italy","authors":"D. Mauro, C. Biagioni, J. Sejkora, Z. Dolníček","doi":"10.1180/mgm.2023.49","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract A new occurrence of austinite, CaZnAsO4(OH), conichalcite, CaCuAsO4(OH), and zincolivenite, CuZnAsO4(OH), is described from the Tripi mine, Peloritani Mountains, Sicily, Italy. These species have been observed in euhedral crystals in vugs of a calcite vein and were characterised using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe analysis and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Austinite and conichalcite have isotypic relations, both crystallising in space group P212121. Unit-cell parameters of austinite are a = 7.4931(5), b = 9.0256(6), c = 5.9155(4) Å, V = 400.06(5) Å3; its crystal structure was refined on the basis of 1210 unique reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo) and 77 least-square parameters to R1 = 0.0236. Conichalcite has unit-cell parameters a = 7.419(10), b = 9.111(11), c = 5.867(7) Å and V = 396.6(1.4) Å3; the diffraction quality of its available grains was not good enough to allow a high-quality structural refinement. Chemical formulae of austinite and conichalcite are Ca1.04(1)Zn0.86(4)Cu0.09(4)As0.98(2)P0.02(1)O4(OH)0.98 and Ca0.98(1)Fe2+0.02(4)Cu0.69(10)Zn0.30(6)As0.97(2)P0.03(1)O4(OH)0.98, respectively. The new chemical data on the austinite–conichalcite isotypic pair, coupled with previous analyses, supports a possible miscibility gap between the compositions (Zn0.25Cu0.75) and (Zn0.50Cu0.50). Zincolivenite has unit-cell parameters a = 8.4594(9), b = 8.5324(8), c = 5.9893(6) Å, V = 432.30(12) Å3 and space group Pnnm; its crystal structure was refined to R1 = 0.0230 for 523 unique reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo) and 47 least-square parameters. Its chemical composition is Cu0.73(5)Zn1.25(5)As1.01(1)O4(OH)1.01. The refinement of the crystal structure supports the ordering of Cu and Zn in two different crystallographic sites. Micro-Raman spectra of austinite, conichalcite and zincolivenite are discussed, with a focus on the O–H stretching region where local Zn and Cu arrangements affect the position of Raman bands in zincolivenite. These arsenates probably play an environmental role in the Peloritani area, where the occurrence of high contents of some potentially toxic elements in soils and stream sediments has been reported.","PeriodicalId":18618,"journal":{"name":"Mineralogical Magazine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mineralogical Magazine","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1180/mgm.2023.49","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MINERALOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract A new occurrence of austinite, CaZnAsO4(OH), conichalcite, CaCuAsO4(OH), and zincolivenite, CuZnAsO4(OH), is described from the Tripi mine, Peloritani Mountains, Sicily, Italy. These species have been observed in euhedral crystals in vugs of a calcite vein and were characterised using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe analysis and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Austinite and conichalcite have isotypic relations, both crystallising in space group P212121. Unit-cell parameters of austinite are a = 7.4931(5), b = 9.0256(6), c = 5.9155(4) Å, V = 400.06(5) Å3; its crystal structure was refined on the basis of 1210 unique reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo) and 77 least-square parameters to R1 = 0.0236. Conichalcite has unit-cell parameters a = 7.419(10), b = 9.111(11), c = 5.867(7) Å and V = 396.6(1.4) Å3; the diffraction quality of its available grains was not good enough to allow a high-quality structural refinement. Chemical formulae of austinite and conichalcite are Ca1.04(1)Zn0.86(4)Cu0.09(4)As0.98(2)P0.02(1)O4(OH)0.98 and Ca0.98(1)Fe2+0.02(4)Cu0.69(10)Zn0.30(6)As0.97(2)P0.03(1)O4(OH)0.98, respectively. The new chemical data on the austinite–conichalcite isotypic pair, coupled with previous analyses, supports a possible miscibility gap between the compositions (Zn0.25Cu0.75) and (Zn0.50Cu0.50). Zincolivenite has unit-cell parameters a = 8.4594(9), b = 8.5324(8), c = 5.9893(6) Å, V = 432.30(12) Å3 and space group Pnnm; its crystal structure was refined to R1 = 0.0230 for 523 unique reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo) and 47 least-square parameters. Its chemical composition is Cu0.73(5)Zn1.25(5)As1.01(1)O4(OH)1.01. The refinement of the crystal structure supports the ordering of Cu and Zn in two different crystallographic sites. Micro-Raman spectra of austinite, conichalcite and zincolivenite are discussed, with a focus on the O–H stretching region where local Zn and Cu arrangements affect the position of Raman bands in zincolivenite. These arsenates probably play an environmental role in the Peloritani area, where the occurrence of high contents of some potentially toxic elements in soils and stream sediments has been reported.
期刊介绍:
Mineralogical Magazine is an international journal of mineral sciences which covers the fields of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, environmental geology and economic geology. The journal has been published continuously since the founding of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1876 and is a leading journal in its field.