Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2018
A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study of a sample of natural gedrite from North Carolina, USA, with the crystal-chemical formula ANa0.47B(Na0.03Mg0.97Fe0.942+Mn0.02Ca0.04)C(Mg3.52Fe0.282+Al1.15Ti0.054+)T(Si6.31Al1.69)O22W(OH)2, up to a maximum pressure of 7 GPa, revealed the following bulk and axial moduli and their pressure derivatives: K0T = 91.2(6) GPa [K0T' = 6.3(2)]; K0T(a) = 60.5(6) GPa [K0T(a)' = 6.1(2)]; K0T(b) = 122.8(2.6) GPa [K0T(b)' = 5.7(8)]; K0T (c) = 119.7(1.5) GPa [K0T(c)' = 5.1(5)]. Gedrite has a much higher bulk modulus than anthophyllite (66 GPa) and proto-amphibole (64 GPa). All of the three axial moduli of gedrite are higher than those of these two other orthoamphiboles. The greater stiffness of gedrite along [100] is due to its high ANa content, which is almost zero in anthophyllite and proto-amphibole. The much greater stiffness parallel to the (100) plane of gedrite compared with the two other amphiboles is probably due to its high CAl content. A comparison is made with published data available for orthorhombic B(Mg, Mn, Fe) and monoclinic BCa amphiboles to identify correlations between crystal-chemistry and compressibility in amphiboles.