Description and crystal structure of nyholmite, a new mineral related to hureaulite, from Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Nyholmite, Cd{sub 3}Zn{sub 2}(AsO{sub 3}OH){sub 2}(AsO{sub 4}){sub 2} {center_dot} 4H{sub 2}O, from the Block 14 Opencut, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, is a new Cd-Zn arsenate species, isostructural with the minerals of the hureaulite group. The mineral occurs in a quartz-garnet-arsenopyrite matrix as white globules, tufted aggregates of fibrous crystals and radiating hemispheres of thin, colourless, bladed crystals. Associated minerals are goldquarryite, lavendulan-sampleite, scorodite-strengite and gypsum. Individual crystals are up to 0.2 mm in length and 0.05 mm across. The mineral is transparent to translucent with a vitreous lustre. It is brittle with an uneven fracture and a white streak. The Mohs hardness is 3-3.5 and the calculated density is 4.23 g cm{sup -3} for the empirical formula. Electron microprobe analyses yielded CdO 34.58, ZnO 9.72, MnO 3.59, CuO 3.39, Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} 0.20, CaO 0.16, PbO 0.37, As{sub 2}O{sub 5} 34.55, P{sub 2}O{sub 5} 6.29 totalling 92.85 wt.%. The empirical formula, based on 20 oxygen atoms, is Ca{sub 0.03}Pb{sub 0.02} Cd{sub 2.80}Al{sub 0.04}Zn{sub 1.24}-Cu{sub 0.44}Mn{sub 0.53}[(AsO{sub 4}){sub 3.13}(PO{sub 4}){sub 0.92}]{Sigma}{sub 4.05}H{sub 1.91} {center_dot} 3.79H{sub 2}O. Nyholmite is monoclinic, C2/c, a = 18.062(4) {angstrom}, b = 9.341(2) {angstrom}, c = 9.844(2) {angstrom}, {beta} = 96.17(3){sup o}, V = 1651.2(6) {angstrom}{sup 3} (single-crystal data, at 123 K). The six strongest lines in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern are [d({angstrom}),I,(hkl)]: 8.985,30,(200); 8.283, 85,(110); 6.169,25,(111); 4.878,25,(002); 3.234,100,(222, 420); 3.079,65,(222, 511); 2.976,45,(113). The crystal structure was solved by Patterson methods and refined using 2045 observed reflections to R1(F) = 3.73%. The structure is characterized by a kinked, five-membered chain of edge-sharing M{phi}{sub 6} ({phi} = unspecified anion) octahedra, or pentamer, that extends in the a direction. The pentamers link by sharing corners to form a sheet in the (001) plane. Pentamers are also linked, via corner-sharing, by (As,P)O{sub 4} groups forming thick slabs in the (001) plane. The slabs link in the c direction by cornersharing between octahedra and tetrahedra to form a dense heteropolyhedral framework. Moderate to weak hydrogen-bonding provides additional linkage between the slabs.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1006123
- Journal Information:
- Mineral Mag., Vol. 73, Issue 10, 2009; ISSN 0026-461X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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