Solid Solution in the Adelite Group of Arsenates
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Canadian Mineralogist Vol. 18, pp. 191-195(1980) SOLIDSOLUTION IN THE ADELITEGROUP OF ARSENATES J.L. JAMBOR, D.R. OWENS AND J.E. DUTRIZAC Mineral SciencesLaboratories, CANMET, Depaftment of Energy, Mines and Resources, 555 Booth Steet, Attuwa, Ontario KIA OGI AssrRecr TABLEI. IiIINERALSOF THE ADELIIE GROUP Nare composltlon a(l) b(l) c(A) Reference rr.a2. ('19511 adellte CaMqAsO,OH- 7.47 8.94 5.88 Palache Duftite and conichalcite specimens from Tsumeb, 7.525 8.895* 5.850 PDF24-208 Namibia (South West Africa) are commonly zoned Palacheal q2. (1951) austlnite CaZnAsO,0H' 7.43 9.00 5.90 in color and composition. Microprobe analyses and 7.506 9.046 5.932Radcliffe a Simns X-ray powder-diffraction studies indicate extensive conrchalcrte cacuAso,oH 1.42 s.2o t.* []?llh ordz. (1s511 e 7.3e3s.220 5.830 &srmns Clu-Zn and Pb{a substitutions, which rep- iisill". (CaCu 9.14 5.91 Palachert 02' (1951) resent solid solution among conichalcite duftlte PbCuAs0,oH* 7.52 (CaZnAsOaOH) 7.51 9.14 5.9 PDF6-0322 ASO"OH), austinite and duftite 7,81 9.19 6.08 PDFl4-169 (PbCuAsO.OH), group all of the adelite of arse- gabrlelsonite PbFeAso40H7.86 8.52r 5.98 PDF20-583 nates. Cell dimensions of end-member duftite are PbZnAso4oH Taggart & Foord a 7.778(4), b 9.207(3), c 6.000(5) 4., v qzg.l Ar. Keywords: adelite group, duftite, austinite, coni- chalcite, Tsumeb, compositional and color zoning tion and to ascertainits possibleuse as a powder- solid solution, X-ray powder data, in minerals, A microprobe analysis cell volumes. diffraction standard. showed that the material varied substantially in that Cu was fairly constant Sovtvternp Pb, Ca and Zl, but under the expanded beam used for the anal- ks 6chantillons de duftite et de conichalcite de ysis. The material seemed to belong to the Tsumeb, Namibie (Afrique du Sud-Ouest) montrent adelite group, but a precise identification could souvent une zonation en couleur et en composition. not be made. Re-examinationof the above speci- Les 6tudes ir la microsonde et d la diffraction X men. as well as others labeled "duftite", was sur poufues indiquent des substitutions importantes undertaken and the results form the basis of CvZn et Pb{a. et donc des solutions solides this report. Part of the Tsumeb specimen has entre la conichalcite CaC\AsOaOH. I'austinite been depositedin the National Mineral Collec- CaZnAsOOH et la duftite PbCUAsOOH, toutes trois tion, Ottawa (NMC 61459). membres du groupe de I'adelite. Les dimensions de la maille au p6le duftite sont a 7.778(4\, b 9.207(3), c 6.000(5)4,, v qzs.tL". OntcrNlr Tsutvtss SpecrvEN (Iraduit par la R6daction) The specimen is dark green and about 3 Mots-cl4s:,groupe de fadelite, duftite, austinite, cm in diameter. Broken and cut edges show a conichalcite,Tsumeb, zonation en composition random oscillation of color zones, all in muted et en couleur dans les min6raux,solution solide, shadesof green, that conform with the coarsely diffraction X sur poudres,volume de la maille. botryoidal surface. Microscope and microprobe examinations of a polished thin section revealed INtnoouctloN that color and composition zoning occurs on such a fine scale that areas sufficiently large Six members of the adelite group of arse- and homogeneous for microprobe and X-ray nates are known (Table 1). Although published powder-diffraction analysesare difficult to find. chemical data indicate that little solid solution occurs among members of the group, all are Microprobe analyses believed to be isostructural, with space group P2t2r2t (Radcliffe & Simmons 1971). Analyses were pedormed with a Materials A specimen labeled "duftite" from the type Analysis Company model 40O electron micro- locality, Tsumeb, Namibia (South West Africa), probe operated at 2O kV and a specimen cur- was examined in 1976 to obtain X-rav verifica- ient of O.O: pn. Counting periods of l0 seconds L91. r92 THE CANADIAN MINERALOGIST - TABLE2. IIICRoPRoBEANALYSES 0F TSUMEB (Nl'lc 61459) PLUMBIAN'ZINCIAN CoNICHALCITE green l. Color'less 2. filediun green 3. Dark green 4. Bromish av. tri?- moT. ranjJT'f rfl-Tt'-@--ranqe-;'fr7 tf,-frT-@@ av.-ffi-@'@ Ca0 15.4 .274 12.0-17.6 14.3 .254 13.0-17.8 9.5 .170 9.'l-10.5 14.7 .262 12.9-15.7 Pb0 15.4 .069 8.9-22.0 15.5 .070 9.2-18.7 29.5 ,132 28.1-31.4 17.6 .079 14,4-22,4 Cu0 19.5 .246 16.8-21.9 20.2 .255 19.3-22.0 21.7 .272 21.0-22.4 21.5 .271 20,7-2?.5 Zn0 9.1 ."112 7.8-11.8 7.7 .095 6.1-8.8 3.2 .040 2.9-3.7 6.1 .075 4.9-7.5 <0.1 0.t - 0.1-0.1 <0.I <0.1 l4n0 ??n 36.7-38.8 Asr0U 37.4 ,326 36.0-39.0 37.7 .328 36.8-39.6 .287 32.1-34,4 37.9 .330 96.9 ,r.t 97.9 = av. Ca:Pb= 78:22 av. ca:Pb.56344 av. Ca:Pb 80:20 = Cu:Zn= 69:31 Cu.Zn.73:27 Cu:Zn 87:13 SQAtndahaa Dark green Almst colorless Alnost colorless av. r{t7-npT. rande, wtU av. wt% mol. range,Ht% a*-tt%-@-@ Ca0 I0.5 .187 10.2-10.9 10,2 .182 9.9-10.6 16.9 .301 16.6-17.2 Pb0 29.0 .130 27.1-29.7 27.4 .123 26.9-27.7 12.6 .056 l l.5-13.8 Cu0 23.4 .294 23.0-23.7 22.7 .285 22.3-?3.C 20.5 .258 19.3-21.5 Zn0 2.5 .03',1 2.1-2.7 3.0 .037 2.5-3.6 8.6 .106 6.8-12.8 I'ln0 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 4s205 34.I ,296 33.4-34.8 ??a .295 33.1-35.3 39.7 ,346 39.1-40.7 ; 98.4 = av. Ca:Pb= 84:I6 av. Ca:Pb 59:41 = CurZn= 90:10 Cu:Zn 71:29 of end- and the following X-ray lines and standards genei.tyrepresented -conichalcite,.physical combinations were used: Pb Ma, galena; Ca Ko,, apatite; Cu membir duftite and austinite Ka, CuS; Zn Ko,, ZnO; Mn Ka, rhodochrosite; (rather than extensivesolid solution), then these powder As Lc, CoAs:. Areas in the polished thin sec- mixtures should have been detectableby tion of the Tsumeb specimen were selected as X-ray diffraction because the Ca-Pb-{u-Zn is large. The cell dimensions of the represent?tive-The of the various color ranges. variaiion microprobe analyses(Table 2) show that relevant members of the adelite group, although the different color zones are variable in com- similar, differ sufficiently that anomalously position and apparently represent extensive solid large diffraction-line broadening, as well as phases, solution in the adelite group. All the analyzed distinct lines for the individual should are zones have Ca ) Pb and Cu; Zn; thus the appear on 114.6 mm films. These features Tsumeb mineral is plumbian, zincian conichalcite. Al- not evident on X-ray patterns of the though one could infer from the first four material (Cu and Co radiations), but distinct analyses in Table 2 that conichalcite becomes diffraction-line shifts are present. These shifts darker green as the copper content increase$, are sufficiently large to indicate that the coni- analyses in another area of the section, con- chalcite end-member is absent in the Tsumeb sisting of numerous but narrow zones of dif- material. of ferent shades of green, do not confirm the Powder-diffraction patterns from several though apparent trend (Table 2). Analyses obtained the analyzed areas were sharp even from a second polished section give com- incorporation of multiple zones, as indicated by positions in the same ranges as those in Table 2 the composition ranges in Table 2, was una' and sonfirm the lack of correlation between voidable. To obtain comparisons with the cell color and composition. The presence of over dimensions given for austinite and conichalcite AOVo CuO in. the almost colorless areas is bv Radcliffe & Simmons (1971), MgO was added provide notable. subsequently to the X-ray spindles to back-reflectionsfor shrinkage corrections. Least- refinements were done with Cu Kcur X-ray-diffraction stud.y squares radiation 0, l.5405l A). Although the refined Few of the areas analyzed by microprobe parameters are near those of duftite and coni- were homogeneous,but the composition ranges ihalcite the PDF cell data for duftite differ were consistently those expected for adelite- so substantially (Table 1) that specific diqen- group minerals. If the compositional hetero- sions for the end member could not be selecte{. THE ADELITE GROUP OF ARSENATES t93 'DUFTITE", TAELE3, X-MY Po$DERDAIA FoR DUFTITE, TSU}|EB,S.!.A. (pDF 14-169) TABTE4. IiIICROPROBEAMLYSES OF ROI'{I'I 29503 perlpheral clusteN I dmas dc" hhx I d"ul. hhL l c av. range' aY. {tg ran9e, -{n"us'r 40 5.03 5.00 o'il * !0 .96 1.97 240 Pbo 38.t .171 34.5-39.0 19.0 .085 ll.5-?3.4 30 4.60 4.59 020* ,^,^.fr.94,u ,.r, 013 CaO 6.2 .ll0 5.5-7.6 13.5 .241 11,9-1s.9 50 4.21 4.19 11lr I l.g3 400 CuO 23.2 .292 22.8-24.2 ao.t .JJo aa.9-ad.a 30 3.95 3.94 I 20r 50 1.87 1.87 331* Zno 0.6 .0@ 0.5-0.7 0.9 .012 0.9-l.I tn taa 2qa 2101 l0 1.85 1.84 401 tu205 30,2 .263 29.3-31.0 37,5 .327 35.9-39,4 100 3.26 3.24 201 10 1.82 1.82 .