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Coquandite, Sb6O8(SO4).H2O, a new mineral from Pereta, Tuscany, Italy, and two other localities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

C. Sabelli
Affiliation:
CNR—Centro di studio per la Mincralogia e la Geochimica dei sedimenti, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy
P. Orlandi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universitfá di Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, 56100 Pisa, Italy
G. Vezzalini
Affiliation:
Istituto di Mineralogia e Petrologia, Università di Modena, Via S. Eufemia 19, 41100 Modena, Italy

Abstract

Coaquandite, a new antimony oxy-sulphate hydrate, occurs as spheroidal knobs of silky fibres or, rarely, as tiny transparent colourless lamellar crystals on stibnite at the Pereta mine, Tuscany, Italy; it is associated with klebelsbergite, peretaite, valentinite, sulfur, gypsum, stibiconite, and senarmontite. Coquandite is triclinic P1, with a 11.434(7), b 29.77(4), c 11.314(4) Å, α 91.07(7)°, β 119.24(3)° γ 92.82(1)° . It has a cell volume of 3352(5)Å3 with Z = 12 and a calculated density of 5.78 g cm−3. The crystals, elongated along [001] and flattened on {010}, display polysynthetic twinning with (010) as the twin plane. Optically, they are biaxial (+) with z ≈ c, 2V ≫ 60° n = 2.08(5). The strongest lines of the X-ray powder pattern are [d in Å, (I), (hkl)] 14.84(50)(020), 9.27(41)(111, 110), 6.81(67)130, 3.304(93)(090), 3.092(100)(330).

Coquandite has also been found at the Cetine mine, Tuscany, Italy, and at the Lucky Knock mine, Tonasket, Okanogan County, Washington, USA. 22 microprobe chemical analyses (elemental microanalysis for H) gave Sb2O3 88.91, SO3 8.35, CaO 0.04, Na2O 0.03, H2O 1.43, total 98.76 wt.%, corresponding to the empirical formula (Sb + S = 7) Sb5.98Ca0.01Na0.01O7.96(SO4)1.02.0·78H2O, and to the idealised formula Sb6O8(SO4).H2O. The I.R. spectrum, which confirms the presence of water in the formula, is given.

A partial structural arrangement is also given: the Sb polyhedra lie in nine layers perpendicular to [010] and form 'hexagonally' shaped groups surrounded by SO4 tetrahedra.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1992

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