DOCSLIB.ORG

Carmeltazite, Zral2ti4o11, a New Mineral Trapped in Corundum from Volcanic Rocks of Mt Carmel, Northern Israel

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Carmeltazite, Zral2ti4o11, a New Mineral Trapped in Corundum from Volcanic Rocks of Mt Carmel, Northern Israel minerals Article Carmeltazite, ZrAl2Ti4O11, a New Mineral Trapped in Corundum from Volcanic Rocks of Mt Carmel, Northern Israel William L. Griffin 1 , Sarah E. M. Gain 1,2 , Luca Bindi 3,* , Vered Toledo 4, Fernando Cámara 5 , Martin Saunders 2 and Suzanne Y. O’Reilly 1 1 ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems (CCFS) and GEMOC, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia; bill.griffi[email protected] (W.L.G.); [email protected] (S.E.M.G.); [email protected] (S.Y.O.) 2 Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia; [email protected] 3 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, I-50121 Firenze, Italy 4 Shefa Yamim (A.T.M.) Ltd., Netanya 4210602, Israel; [email protected] 5 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra ‘A. Desio’, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milano, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: luca.bindi@unifi.it; Tel.: +39-055-275-7532 Received: 26 November 2018; Accepted: 17 December 2018; Published: 19 December 2018 Abstract: The new mineral species carmeltazite, ideally ZrAl2Ti4O11, was discovered in pockets of trapped melt interstitial to, or included in, corundum xenocrysts from the Cretaceous Mt Carmel volcanics of northern Israel, associated with corundum, tistarite, anorthite, osbornite, an unnamed REE (Rare Earth Element) phase, in a Ca-Mg-Al-Si-O glass. In reflected light, carmeltazite is weakly to moderately bireflectant and weakly pleochroic from dark brown to dark green. Internal reflections are absent. Under crossed polars, the mineral is anisotropic, without characteristic rotation tints. Reflectance values for the four COM wavelengths (Rmin, Rmax (%) (λ in nm)) are: 21.8, 22.9 (471.1); 21.0, 21.6 (548.3), 19.9, 20.7 (586.6); and 18.5, 19.8 (652.3). Electron microprobe analysis (average of eight spot analyses) gave, on the basis of 11 oxygen atoms per formula unit and assuming all Ti and 3+ Sc as trivalent, the chemical formula (Ti 3.60Al1.89Zr1.04Mg0.24Si0.13Sc0.06Ca0.05Y0.02Hf0.01)S=7.04O11. The simplified formula is ZrAl2Ti4O11, which requires ZrO2 24.03, Al2O3 19.88, and Ti2O3 56.09, totaling 100.00 wt %. The main diffraction lines, corresponding to multiple hkl indices, are (d in Å (relative visual intensity)): 5.04 (65), 4.09 (60), 2.961 (100), 2.885 (40), and 2.047 (60). The crystal structure study revealed carmeltazite to be orthorhombic, space group Pnma, with unit-cell parameters a = 14.0951 (9), b = 5.8123 (4), c = 10.0848 (7) Å, V = 826.2 (1) Å3, and Z = 4. The crystal structure was refined to a final R1 = 0.0216 for 1165 observed reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo). Carmeltazite exhibits a structural arrangement similar to that observed in a defective spinel structure. The name carmeltazite derives from Mt Carmel (“CARMEL”) and from the dominant metals present in the mineral, i.e., Titanium, Aluminum and Zirconium (“TAZ”). The mineral and its name have been approved by the IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (2018-103). Keywords: carmeltazite; Mt Carmel; volcanic rocks; corundum; spinel-derivative structure; desilication; extreme reduction 1. Introduction During the study of the mineral assemblage of rock fragments recovered from volcanic tuffs and associated placer deposits in the drainage of the Kishon River, near Haifa (northern Israel), several Minerals 2018, 8, 601; doi:10.3390/min8120601 www.mdpi.com/journal/minerals Minerals 2018, 8, x 2 of 10 Minerals 2018, 8, 601 2 of 11 During the study of the mineral assemblage of rock fragments recovered from volcanic tuffs and associated placer deposits in the drainage of the Kishon River, near Haifa (northern Israel), several exotic phases have been identified identified as accessory accessory minerals minerals (e.g., (e.g., [1] [1] and and references references therein). therein). In In that that area, area, a series of small volcanoes produced mafic mafic to ultr ultramaficamafic pyroclastic rocks (vent breccias, tuffs) in upper Cretaceous time [2,3]. [2,3]. These rocks contain a wide variety of xenocrysts, including megacrysts of clinopyroxene, ilmenite, zirc zirconon and corundum. Among them, aggregates of corundum crystals (Carmel Sapphire TM)) are are common common in in pyroclastic pyroclastic ejecta ejecta and and in associated alluvial deposits. Many of these aggregates aggregates contain contain crystals crystals of of an an unid unidentifiedentified Zr-Al-Ti-bearing Zr-Al-Ti-bearing phase, phase, up up to to 80 80 μµmm in in length. length. Chemical analysis and X-ray single-crystal diffracti diffractionon studies allowed the characterization of the new new Zr-Al-Ti phase, with thethe simplifiedsimplified formulaformula ZrAlZrAl22Ti44O11.. This This new new mineral mineral wa wass named carmeltazite from Mt Carmel (“CARMEL”) and and from from the the metals metals pr presentesent in the mineral, i.e., Titanium, Aluminum and Zirconium (“TAZ”). The mineral and its name have been approved by the IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, Classification, underunder the number 2018-103. The holotype holotype specimen of carmeltazitecarmeltazite is is deposited deposited in thein mineralogicalthe mineralogical collections collections of the Museoof the diMuseo Storia Naturale,di Storia UniversitNaturale,à Universitàdegli Studi degli di Firenze, Studi di Via Firenze, G. La Pira Via 4,G. Florence, La Pira 4, Italy, Florence, under Italy, catalogue under number catalogue 3293/I. number 3293/I. The mineralogical description of of carmeltazite, as as well well as as its crystal structure, are given in this paper. 2. Occurrence Occurrence of Carmeltazite The new mineral described here, carmeltazite, occurs occurs in in pockets pockets of of trapped trapped melt melt interstitial interstitial to, to, or included in, skeletal corundum crystals (Figures 11–3).–3). TheThe earliestearliest paragenesesparageneses consistconsist ofof tistaritetistarite ± ± (Ti2O33)) ± carmeltazitecarmeltazite ± Mg-AlMg-Al spinel spinel in ina matrix a matrix ofof Ca-Mg-Al-Si-O Ca-Mg-Al-Si-O glass. glass. Figure 1. ((TopTop)) SEM-BSESEM-BSE image image of of carmeltazite carmeltazite (in (in corundum); corundum); scale scale bar isbar 200 isµ 200m; andμm; ( Bottomand (Bottom) phase) phasemap of map the of region the region highlighted highlighted in the in top the imagetop imag withe with a red a red dashed dashed rectangle rectangle (scale (scale bar bar is is 50 50µ m).μm). The silicatesilicate melts melts (probably (probably basaltic) basaltic) parental parental to this assemblageto this assemblage had previously had beenpreviously progressively been progressivelydesilicated by desilicated the exsolution by the of immiscibleexsolution Fe-Tiof immiscible oxide melts Fe-Ti and oxide Fe-Ti-Zr-silicide melts and Fe-Ti-Zr-silicide melts (found also melts as (foundinclusions also in as carmeltazite; inclusions Figurein carmeltazite;2), and the crystallizationFigure 2), and of the moissanite crystallization and khamrabaevite of moissanite (TiC), and Minerals 2018, 8, 601 3 of 11 Minerals 2018, 8, x 3 of 10 atkhamrabaevitef O2 = DIW-6 (TiC), or less. at fO This2 = Δ processIW-6 or less. continued, This process producing contin progressivelyued, producing lower progressivelyf O2, witnessed lower 2+ especiallyfO2, witnessed by the especially appearance by the of Tiappearance-bearing phasesof Ti2+-bearing (osbornite, phases khamrabaevite, (osbornite, khamrabaevite, unnamed TiB2, andunnamed unnamed TiB2, TiO). and unnamed TiO). Figure 2.2. ((TopTop)) SEM-BSE SEM-BSE image image of of carmeltazite carmeltazite (in (in corundum); corundum); scale scale bar isbar 200 isµ 200m;and μm; (Bottom and (Bottom) phase) mapphase of map the of region the region highlighted highlighted in the in top the imagetop imag withe with a red a red dashed dashed rectangle rectangle (scale (scale bar bar is 50is 50µm). μm). 3. Mineral Description and Physical Properties 3. Mineral Description and Physical Properties Carmeltazite (Figure1) occurs as black crystals, up to 80 µm in length and a few µm thick. Carmeltazite (Figure 1) occurs as black crystals, up to 80 μm in length and a few μm thick. The The streak is reddish brown and the luster is metallic. The calculated density is 4.122 g·cm−3 based on streak is reddish brown and the luster is metallic. The calculated density is 4.122 g·cm−3 based on the the ideal formula and single-crystal data (see below). Density was not measured because of the small ideal formula and single-crystal data (see below). Density was not measured because of the small amount of available material. amount of available material. In plane-polarized incident light, carmeltazite is weakly to moderately bireflectant and weakly In plane-polarized incident light, carmeltazite is weakly to moderately bireflectant and weakly pleochroic from dark brown to dark green. Internal reflections are absent. Under crossed polars, pleochroic from dark brown to dark green. Internal reflections are absent. Under crossed polars, the the mineral is anisotropic, without characteristic rotation tints. mineral is anisotropic, without characteristic rotation tints. The reflectance was measured in air by means of a MPM-200 microphotometer (CRAIC The reflectance was measured in air by means of a MPM-200 microphotometer (CRAIC Technologies, San Dimas, CA, USA) equipped with a MSP-20 system processor on a Zeiss Axioplan Technologies, San Dimas, CA, USA) equipped with a MSP-20 system processor on a Zeiss Axioplan ore microscope (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). Filament temperature was approximately 3350 K. ore microscope (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). Filament temperature was approximately 3350 K. Readings were taken for specimen and standard (SiC) under the same focus conditions. The diameter Readings were taken for specimen and standard (SiC) under the same focus conditions. The diameter of the circular measuring area was 0.05 mm. Reflectance percentages in the form (Rmin, Rmax (%) (λ in of the circular measuring area was 0.05 mm.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • George Robert Rossman Feb 15, 1995
    George Robert Rossman 20-Jun-2020 Present Position: Professor of Mineralogy Option Representative for Geochemistry Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 91125-2500 Office Telephone: (626)-395-6471 FAX: (626)-568-0935 E-mail: [email protected] Residence: Pasadena, California Birthdate: August 3, l944, LaCrosse, Wisconsin Education: B.S. (Chemistry and Mathematics), Wisconsin State University, Eau Claire, 1966, Summa cum Laude Ph.D. (Chemistry), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 1971 Experience: California Institute of Technology Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences a) 1971 Instructor in Mineralogy b) 1971-1974 Assistant Professor of Mineralogy and Chemistry c) 1974-1977 Assistant Professor of Mineralogy d) 1977-1984 Associate Professor of Mineralogy e) 1984-2008 Professor of Mineralogy f) 2008-2015 Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Mineralogy e) 2015- Professor of Mineralogy Principal Research Interests: a) Spectroscopic studies of minerals. These studies include problems relating to the origin of color phenomena in minerals; site ordering in crystals; pleochroism; metal ions in distorted sites; analytical applications. b) The role of low concentrations of water and hydroxide in nominally anhydrous solids. Analytical methods for OH analysis, mode of incorporation, role of OH in modifying physical and chemical properties, and its relationship to conditions of formation in the natural environment. c) Long term radiation damage effects in minerals from background levels of natural radiation. The effects of high level ionizing radiation on minerals. d) X-ray amorphous minerals. These studies have involved the physical chemical study of bioinorganic hard parts of marine organisms and products of terrestrial surface weathering, and metamict minerals.
    [Show full text]
  • Talking Leaves 2018
    Talking Leaves Volume 19 2018 i TALKING LEAVES 2018 – VOLUME 19 MANAGING EDITOR Michael Donohue ASSISTANT EDITOR Isabel D’Allura COPY EDITORS Taylor Greenlee Alexander Schnur FACULTY SPONSOR Lisa Siefker-Bailey POLICY AND PURPOSE Talking Leaves accepts original works of prose, poetry, and artwork from students at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus. Each anonymous submission is reviewed by the IUPUC Division of Liberal Arts Talking Leaves Design Team and judged solely on artistic merit. ©Copyright 2018 by the Trustees of Indiana University. Upon publication, copyright reverts to the author/artist. We retain the right to archive all issues electronically and to publish all issues for posterity and the general public. Talking Leaves is published almost annually by the Talking Leaves IUPUC Division of Liberal Arts Editorial Board. www.iupuc.edu/talking-leaves ii From the Managing Editor It is with absolute excitement that I present IUPUC’s 2018 issue of Talking Leaves. This edition would not be possible without the assistance of an amazing team. Therefore, I first must thank Isabel, Alex, and Taylor for taking the time out of their busy schedules and contributing to the selection and editing process. I greatly appreciate your hard work and dedication, and this publication would not have been completed without your help. I would especially like to thank Dr. Lisa Siefker-Bailey and the entire staff of the Liberal Arts Department who, year after year, work, support, and sponsor this publication. In the age of digital art and prose, IUPUC spends time and money to keep this magazine in print so students can have something tangible forever in their personal libraries.
    [Show full text]
  • Extraterrestrial Mineral Harder Than Diamonds Discovered in Israel Jan 15, 2019 Helen Flatley
    Extraterrestrial Mineral Harder than Diamonds Discovered in Israel Jan 15, 2019 Helen Flatley A new discovery in the mountains of northern Israel has caused significant excitement for geologists around the world. While working in the Zevulun Valley, close to Mount Carmel, Israeli mining company Shefa Yamim found a new mineral never before discovered on earth. The International Mineralogical Association regularly approves new minerals for its official list, with up to 100 new substances added to the register each year. However, this latest discovery was hailed as a significant event, as it was previously believed that this type of mineral was only found on extraterrestrial material. The new mineral loosely resembles allendeite, a mineral previously seen on the Allende meteorite that fell to earth in February of 1969. However, this is the first time that such a substance has been found to naturally occur in rock on Earth itself. The CEO of Shefa Yamim, Abraham Taub, told Haaretz that the mineral had been named carmeltazite, after the place of its discovery and the minerals contained within its structure: titanium, aluminum and zirconium. While the majority of the new minerals approved by the International Mineralogical Association are unspectacular in appearance, carmeltazite offers considerable commercial opportunities, as it resembles other gemstones used in the making of jewelry. The crystal structure of carmeltazite. Photo by MDPI CC BY-SA 4.0 This strange new mineral was found embedded in cracks within sapphire, the second hardest mineral (after diamonds) found to occur naturally on earth. Carmeltazite closely resembles sapphire and ruby in its chemical composition, and is found in black, blue-green, or orange-brown colors, with a metallic hue.
    [Show full text]
  • Mineralogical and Oxygen Isotopic Study of a New Ultrarefractory Inclusion in the Northwest Africa 3118 CV3 Chondrite
    Meteoritics & Planetary Science 55, Nr 10, 2184–2205 (2020) doi: 10.1111/maps.13575 Mineralogical and oxygen isotopic study of a new ultrarefractory inclusion in the Northwest Africa 3118 CV3 chondrite Yong XIONG1, Ai-Cheng ZHANG *1,2, Noriyuki KAWASAKI3, Chi MA 4, Naoya SAKAMOTO5, Jia-Ni CHEN1, Li-Xin GU6, and Hisayoshi YURIMOTO3,5 1State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China 2CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology,Hefei, China 3Department of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan 4Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA 5Isotope Imaging Laboratory, Creative Research Institution Sousei, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan 6Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 27 March 2020; revision accepted 09 September 2020) Abstract–Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) are the first solid materials formed in the solar nebula. Among them, ultrarefractory inclusions are very rare. In this study, we report on the mineralogical features and oxygen isotopic compositions of minerals in a new ultrarefractory inclusion CAI 007 from the CV3 chondrite Northwest Africa (NWA) 3118. The CAI 007 inclusion is porous and has a layered (core–mantle–rim) texture. The core is dominant in area and mainly consists of Y-rich perovskite and Zr-rich davisite, with minor refractory metal nuggets, Zr,Sc-rich oxide minerals (calzirtite and tazheranite), and Fe-rich spinel. The calzirtite and tazheranite are closely intergrown, probably derived from a precursor phase due to thermal metamorphism on the parent body.
    [Show full text]
  • Alumni Revue! This Issue Was Created Since It Was Decided to Publish a New Edition Every Other Year Beginning with SP 2017
    AAlluummnnii RReevvuuee Ph.D. Program in Theatre The Graduate Center City University of New York Volume XIII (Updated) SP 2016 Welcome to the updated version of the thirteenth edition of our Alumni Revue! This issue was created since it was decided to publish a new edition every other year beginning with SP 2017. It once again expands our numbers and updates existing entries. Thanks to all of you who returned the forms that provided us with this information; please continue to urge your fellow alums to do the same so that the following editions will be even larger and more complete. For copies of the form, Alumni Information Questionnaire, please contact the editor of this revue, Lynette Gibson, Assistant Program Officer/Academic Program Coordinator, Ph.D. Program in Theatre, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309. You may also email her at [email protected]. Thank you again for staying in touch with us. We’re always delighted to hear from you! Jean Graham-Jones Executive Officer Hello Everyone: his is the updated version of the thirteenth edition of Alumni Revue. As always, I would like to thank our alumni for taking the time to send me T their updated information. I am, as always, very grateful to the Administrative Assistants, who are responsible for ensuring the entries are correctly edited. The Cover Page was done once again by James Armstrong, maybe he should be named honorary “cover-in-chief”. The photograph shows the exterior of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, England and was taken in August 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Session Lecture Poster Date Code Name Affiliation Title S36 Yoko
    Poster Session Lecture Code Name Affiliation Title Date S36 Yoko Sakata Kanazawa University S36 Tetsuro Kusamoto The University of Tokyo S36 Nobuto Yoshinari Osaka University S36 Akitaka Ito Kochi University of Technology S36 Ryo Ohtani Kumamoto University Organizer S36 Wei-Xiong ZHANG Sun Yat-Sen University S36 Kenneth Hanson Florida State University S36 Dawid Pinkowicz Jagiellonian University in Krakow Chung Yuan Christian University (from Aug. 1. S36 Tsai-Te Lu 2017, National Tsing Hua University) S36 Oral Talk A00119-AG Angela Grommet University of Cambridge Coordination Cages for the Transportation of Molecular Cargo S36 Oral Talk A00130-KH Kenneth Hanson Florida State University Harnessing Molecular Photon Upconversion Using Transition Metal Ion S36 Oral Talk A00140-WS Woon Ju Song Seoul National University De Novo Design of Artificial Metallo-Hydrolases Ruhr-Universitat Bochum & Fraunhofer Inducing Varying Efficiency in (FexNi1-x)9S8 Electrocatalysts Applied in S36 Oral Talk A00184-UA Ulf-Peter Apfel UMSICHT Hydrogen Evolution and CO2 Reduction Reactions School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-Sen University, S36 Oral Talk A00217-PL Pei-Qin Liao Metal-organic frameworks for CO2 capture and conversion Guangzhou 510275, China S36 Oral Talk A00248-TK Takashi Kitao Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto Controlled Assemblies of Conjugated Polymers in Metal-Organic Manipulating Proton for Hydrogen Production in a Biologically Inspired S36 Oral Talk A00333-KC Kai-Ti Chu Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica Fe2 Electrocatalytic System S36 Oral
    [Show full text]
  • The World Through His Lens, Steve Mccurry Photographs
    The World through His Lens, Steve McCurry Photographs Glossary Activist - An activist is a person who campaigns for some kind of social change. When you participate in a march protesting the closing of a neighborhood library, you're an activist. Someone who's actively involved in a protest or a political or social cause can be called an activist. Alms - Money or food given to poor people. Synonyms: gifts, donations, offerings, charity. Ashram (in South Asia) - A place of religious retreat: a house, apartment or community, for Hindus. Bindi - Bindi is a bright dot of red color applied in the center of the forehead close to the eyebrow worn by Hindu or Jain women. Bodhi Tree - The Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo and "peepal tree" in Nepal and Bhutan, was a large and very old sacred fig tree located in Bodh Gaya, India, under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher later known as Gautama Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment, or Bodhi. The term "Bodhi Tree" is also widely applied to currently existing trees, particularly the Sacred Fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, which is a direct descendant planted in 288 BC from the original specimen. Buddha - 566?–c480 b.c., Indian religious leader: founder of Buddhism. Buddhism - A religion, originated in India by Buddha and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet, and parts of southeast Asia. Buddhists believe that life is full of suffering, which is caused by desire. To stop desiring things is to stop the suffering. If a Buddhists accomplishes this, he or she is said to have obtained Enlightenment, like The Buddha.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Art of Eating Icecream Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1db3b9nr Author Chatterjee, Piya Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Art of Eating Icecream A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts by Piya Chatterjee March 2015 Thesis Committee: Professor Mark Haskell-Smith, Co-Chairperson Professor Andrew Winer, Co-Chairperson Professor Tod Goldberg Copyright by Piya Chatterjee 2015 The Thesis of Piya Chatterjee is approved: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS The Art of Eating Ice-cream by Piya Chatterjee Master of Fine Arts Graduate Program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts University of California, Riverside, March 2015 Professor Mark Haskell-Smith, Co-Chairperson Professor Andrew Winer, Co-Chairperson In the teeming and chaotic Calcutta, Seema, a small time crook and prostitute becomes a surrogate for a gay American couple. About to give birth to a Caucasian child, Seema realizes that the birth fathers, Bill and Dave are not going to show up. Terrified but always resourceful, Seema leaves the child at the door- step of Sunil and Bethie, who have tragically lost their own baby to still birth, and desperately want a family. Bethie, so recently depressed and suicidal, is delighted to have finally found motherhood in India and Sunil swallows his misgivings for the sake of his adored wife.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Nature and Significance of Rarity in Mineralogy
    1 1 REVISION #2—American Mineralogist—January 12, 2016 2 3 On the nature and significance of rarity in mineralogy 4 5 Robert M. Hazen1* and Jesse H. Ausubel2 6 1Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, D. C. 20015, USA. 7 2Program for the Human Environment, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Ave., New York, New York 10021, USA. 8 9 ABSTRACT 10 More than half of the >5000 approved mineral species are known from 5 or fewer localities 11 and thus are rare. Mineralogical rarity arises from different circumstances, but all rare mineral 12 species conform to one or more of 4 criteria: (1) P-T-X range: minerals that form only under 13 highly restricted conditions in pressure-temperature-composition space; (2) Planetary constraints: 14 minerals that incorporate essential elements that are rare or that form at extreme conditions that 15 seldom occur in Earth’s near-surface environment; (3) Ephemeral phases: minerals that rapidly 16 break down under ambient conditions; and (4) Collection biases: phases that are difficult to 17 recognize because they lack crystal faces or are microscopic, or minerals that arise in lithological 18 contexts that are difficult to access. Minerals that conform to criterion (1), (2), or (3) are 19 inherently rare, whereas those matching criterion (4) may be much more common than 20 represented by reported occurences. 21 Rare minerals, though playing minimal roles in Earth’s bulk properties and dynamics, are 22 nevertheless of significance for varied reasons. Uncommon minerals are key to understanding 23 the diversity and disparity of Earth’s mineralogical environments, for example in the prediction 24 of as yet undescribed minerals.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of the Structural Architecture of Tellurium Oxycompounds
    Mineralogical Magazine, May 2016, Vol. 80(3), pp. 415–545 REVIEW OPEN ACCESS A review of the structural architecture of tellurium oxycompounds 1 2,* 3 A. G. CHRISTY ,S.J.MILLS AND A. R. KAMPF 1 Research School of Earth Sciences and Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia 2 Geosciences, Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia 3 Mineral Sciences Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA [Received 24 November 2015; Accepted 23 February 2016; Associate Editor: Mark Welch] ABSTRACT Relative to its extremely low abundance in the Earth’s crust, tellurium is the most mineralogically diverse chemical element, with over 160 mineral species known that contain essential Te, many of them with unique crystal structures. We review the crystal structures of 703 tellurium oxysalts for which good refinements exist, including 55 that are known to occur as minerals. The dataset is restricted to compounds where oxygen is the only ligand that is strongly bound to Te, but most of the Periodic Table is represented in the compounds that are reviewed. The dataset contains 375 structures that contain only Te4+ cations and 302 with only Te6+, with 26 of the compounds containing Te in both valence states. Te6+ was almost exclusively in rather regular octahedral coordination by oxygen ligands, with only two instances each of 4- and 5-coordination. Conversely, the lone-pair cation Te4+ displayed irregular coordination, with a broad range of coordination numbers and bond distances.
    [Show full text]
  • Sc,Ti,Al,Zr,Mg,Ca,□)2O3, a NEW ULTRA-REFRACTORY MINERAL in ALLENDE Chi Ma1*, Oliver Tschauner1,2, John R
    75th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting (2012) 5004.pdf DISCOVERY OF KANGITE, (Sc,Ti,Al,Zr,Mg,Ca,□)2O3, A NEW ULTRA-REFRACTORY MINERAL IN ALLENDE Chi Ma1*, Oliver Tschauner1,2, John R. Beckett1, George R. Rossman1, Wenjun Liu3. 1Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; 2High Pressure Science and Engineering Center and Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA; 3Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA. *[email protected] Introduction: During a nano-mineralogy investigation of the Allende CV3 carbonaceous chondrite, we identified a new scan- dia mineral named “kangite” in an irregular ultra-refractory in- clusion. It has a cubic Ia3 bixbyite-type structure and a formula unit (Sc,Ti,Al,Zr,Mg,Ca,□)2O3. Field-emission SEM with EDS and electron back-scatter diffraction, electron microprobe and synchrotron micro-Laue diffraction were used to characterize the composition and structure. We report here the first occurrence of kangite in nature, as a new ultra-refractory oxide among the ear- liest solids formed in the solar nebula, and discuss its origin and significance for nebular processes. The mineral and the mineral name (kangite) have been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA 2011-092). Occurrence, Chemistry, and Crystallography: Kangite (26.6 wt% Sc2O3) appears as four irregular to subhedral grains, 1 to 4 μm in size, alone or in contact with REE-rich perovskite and MgAl-spinel in type davisite (up to 17.7 wt% Sc2O3) [1].
    [Show full text]
  • New Mineral Panguite - PSRD | a Cosmosparks Report
    New Mineral Panguite - PSRD | A CosmoSparks report Quick Views of Big Advances Olympic-caliber Mineral Finder Chi Ma, a senior scientist at Caltech's Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, is an expert in nanometer-scale mineralogy with a particular interest in discovering new minerals. Teasing out the tinest of cosmochemical details, he and his colleagues have already discovered 14 new minerals in meteorites, nine from one meteorite alone—the Allende carbonaceous chondrite [Data link from the Meteoritical Bulletin]. The olympian efforts by this team and others to study some of the early solids that formed in our Solar System are helping to unravel the details of nebular evolution, the components that accreted into rocky bodies, and the chemical processing on those bodies. Most recently, Ma and collaborators at Caltech, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and the Argonne National Laboratory discovered the first occurrence of a brand new type of titanium oxide, as reported online June 26, 2012 in the American Backscattered electron image of new mineral panguite inside an Mineralogist. Using an array of high-resolution, ultra-refractory inclusion within an amoeboid olivine inclusion in high-tech microscopic and spectroscopic the Allende meteorite. Panguite occurs in association with techniques the team discovered fine-grained titanium-bearing davisite. crystals, 500–1800 nanometers in size, of 4+ (Ti ,Sc,Al,Mg,Zr,Ca)1.8O3. These grains are inside an ultra-refractory inclusion (30x20 micrometers in size) within an olivine-rich inclusion (known as an amoeboid olivine inclusion) in Allende (see image). Looking like a cosmochemical set of nested Russian dolls with one chemically primitive component inside another, these refractory solids condensed from solar nebula gas before the planets formed, about 4.6 billion years ago.
    [Show full text]