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Magnesiokoritnigite, Mg(AsO3OH)·H2O, from the Torrecillas mine, Iquique Province, Chile: the Mg-analogue of koritnigite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

A. R. Kampf ,
B. P. Nash ,
M. Dini  and
A. A. Molina Donoso
A. R. Kampf*
Affiliation:
Mineral Sciences Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
B. P. Nash
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA
M. Dini
Affiliation:
Pasaje San Agustin 4045, La Serena, Chile
*
* E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The new mineral magnesiokoritnigite (IMA 2013-049), ideally Mg(AsO3OH)·H2O, was found at the Torrecillas mine, Salar Grande, Iquique Province, Chile, where it occurs as a secondary alteration phase in association with anhydrite, chudobaite, halite, lavendulan, quartz and scorodite. Crystals of magnesiokoritnigite are colourless to pale-pink, thin to thick laths up to 2 mm long. Laths are elongated on [001], flattened on {010} and exhibit the forms {010}, {110}, {10}, {101}, {031} and {01}. The crystals also occur in dense deep-pink intergrowths. Crystals are transparent with a vitreous lustre. The mineral has a white streak, Mohs hardness of ∼3, brittle tenacity, conchoidal fracture and one perfect cleavage on {101}. The measured and calculated densities are 2.95(3) and 2.935 g cm– 3, respectively. Optically, magnesiokoritnigite is biaxial (+) with α = 1.579(1), β = 1.586(1) and γ = 1.620(1) (measured in white light). The measured 2V is 50(2)° and the calculated 2V is 50°. Dispersion is r < v, medium. The optical orientation is Y ≈ b; Z ^ c = 36° in obtuse β (note pseudomonoclinic symmetry). The mineral is non-pleochroic. The empirical formula, determined from electron-microprobe analyses, is (Mg0.94Cu0.03Mn0.02Ca0.01)Σ 1.00As0.96O5H3.19. Magnesiokoritnigite is triclinic, P, with a = 7.8702(7), b = 15.8081(6), c = 6.6389(14) Å, α = 90.814(6), β = 96.193(6), γ = 90.094(7)°, V = 821.06(19) Å3 and Z = 8. The eight strongest X-ray powder diffraction lines are [dobs Å (I)(hkl)]: 7.96(100)(020), 4.80(54)(101), 3.791(85)(10,210,1,31), 3.242(56)(02,1,012), 3.157(92)(21,30,230), 3.021(61)(11,141,21,221), 2.798(41)(02,032) and 1.908(43)(multiple). The structure, refined to R1 = 5.74% for 2360 Fo > 4σF reflections, shows magnesiokoritnigite to be isostructural with koritnigite and cobaltkoritnigite.

Keywords

magnesiokoritnigitenew mineralcrystal structurekoritnigiteTorrecillas mineChile
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 77 , Issue 8 , December 2013 , pp. 3081 - 3092
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2013

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