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Eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2, a new fumarolic mineral from Eldfell volcano, Iceland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

T. Balić-Žunic*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
A. Garavelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento Geomineralogico, Università di Bari, Via E. Orabona 4, I–70125 Bari, Italy
P. Acquafredda
Affiliation:
Dipartimento Geomineralogico, Università di Bari, Via E. Orabona 4, I–70125 Bari, Italy
E. Leonardsen
Affiliation:
St. Karlsmindevej 46, DK-3390 Hundested, Denmark
S. P. Jakobsson
Affiliation:
Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Hlemmur 3, P.O. Box 5320, IS-125 Reykjavik, Iceland
*

Abstract

A new mineral, eldfellite, was found among fumarolic encrustations collected in 1990 on the Eldfell volcano, Heimaey Island, Iceland. Associated minerals are ralstonite, anhydrite, gypsum, bassanite, hematite, opal and tamarugite, as well as a presumably new mineral with the composition Na3Fe(SO4)3. Along with opal and tamarugite, eldfellite forms soft and fragile aggregates built of thin, platy crystals of micrometre size. The mineral is yellowish-green to greenish-white, with a white streak. The calculated density is 3.062 g/cm3. Eldfellite is monoclinic, C2/m, a 8.043(4) Å, b 5.139(2) Å, c 7.115(4) Å, β 92.13(2)º, Vuc 293.9(2) Å3, Z = 2 and is isostructural with yavapaiite[KFe (SO4)2]. The strongest lines in the powder diffraction diagram are [d (Å), I (relative to 10)]: 3.72, 8; 3.64, 5; 3.43, 5; 2.77, 10; 2.72, 6; 2.57, 3; 2.370, 6; 1.650, 3. Theche mical analysis and theX-ray diffraction data of eldfellite correspond to those of the synthetic compound NaFe(SO4)2.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2009

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