Infra-red examination of a weathered biotite and of biotites that have been converted to vermiculites and subsequently oxidized, indicates that oxidation of octahedral ferrous ions to ferric ions is associated with a reversible conversion of hydroxyl ions to oxide ions. Subsequently, in high-iron biotites, there is an irreversible loss of ferric ions from the octahedral layer, resulting in an increased number of dioctahedral sites. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate that ejected ferric ions form either amorphous interlayer oxides or, when bromine is used as an oxidant, a crystalline external phase of β-FeOOH. The high refractive index of some oxidized vermiculites is shown to be due largely to submicroscopic iron oxides.

An account of the eastern part of the Galway Granite is presented together with the first detailed geological map. An aphyric medium-grained alkali granite occurs at the margin of the pluton followed by a coarse porphyritic granite, which becomes more basic towards the granite centre, consistent with findings in the western and northern parts of the batholith. Westwards the coarse porphyritic granite develops a foliation in which xenoliths, and occasionally potash feldspar phenocrysts, are aligned. Chemical fractionation trends illustrate the consanguinity of the granites and aplites. Field, petrographic, and chemical evidence suggest that most of the xenoliths are cognate.

The zonation of the granite is thought to have resulted from crystallization of a magma in which compositional gradients were set up during the early crystallization period. A temperature gradient, decreasing from the centre of the magma chamber outwards into the country rocks, resulted in the migration of water, accompanied by alkalis and other volatiles, towards the granite margin; also the early-crystallizing minerals displaced the residual magma outwards. Crystallization was followed by shearing in the deeper parts of the pluton to produce the granite foliation. A total of 166 rocks have been chemically analysed for 31 constituents.

The local development of strongly oxidizing conditions during crystallization of a recent basalt lava lake on Piton de la Fournaise, Réunion, led to the production of approximately 15 % residual rhyodacite liquid. This was segregated into the vesicle cavities as the lava solidified, and congealed as a glass containing microlites of feldspar, clinopyroxene, and hematite. The rhyodacite is compared chemically with the residual glasses recorded from other basaltic and doleritic occurrences, and with the Mauna Kuwale rhyodacite of Oahu.

Identification of clinopyroxene lamellae in Bushveld-type orthopyroxene from the Greenhills Ultramafic Complex has been made on the basis of partial analysis by electron microprobe as well as by unit cell determination by prolonged exposure to X-rays of single crystals of orthopyroxene. Lamellae averaging Ca42Mg47Fe11 in composition with an approximate unit cell a 9·79, b 8·90, c 5·29 Å, β 106° 14′, occur in orthopyroxene Ca2Mg67Fe31 with unit cell a 18·28, b 8·85, c 5·20 Å. The Greenhills lamellae are of orientation identical to those described by Hess (1960), which share c and b axes with host orthopyroxene.

Phenocrystic and xenocrystic olivines and one olivine nodule sample, all from volcanics in the eastern Azores, range in composition from Fo87 to Fo69. Most are phenocrysts from the Nordeste alkali basaltic complex, eastern São Miguel Island, in which olivine-bearing rocks range from ankaramite to latite. CaO, MnO, and NiO trends are related to Mg-Fe contents, both for the concentrates as a whole, and also within analysed zoned crystals. It is shown that anomalous plots of Δ2ϑ(220LiF—062olivine) are related to pronounced Mg-Fe zonal gradients and, in samples from some flows, to mixtures of different generations of olivine. Regressions of Δ2ϑ vs. Fo (mol %) and FeO (wt %) for the least-zoned olivines are in close accord with those for Hawaiian olivines reported by Murata and others (1965).

MnO percentages increase linearly with FeO; this and the Hawaiian trend are indistinguishable. Limited data for the most magnesian olivines indicate that NiO increases with FeO up to ∼ 15 wt % of FeO; the trend then decreases with further iron enrichment. This trend is apparent from other olivine data, and its relationship to the onset of pyroxene crystallization is discussed. CaO in olivine phenocrysts is inversely related to normative anorthite percentages in host rocks; the trend appears to be controlled largely by co-precipitation and fractionation of calcic plagioclase.

Chemical analyses of nine K-feldspars and thirteen albites, along with their optical, physical, and X-ray data are presented. The obliquity values Δ = 12·5(d131-d13¯1) of the K-feldspars are found to be independent of the contents of silica and volatiles in the rocks. The role of temperature as the primary factor affecting the obliquity values is stressed. The relationship between the (An + Ab) content of the potassic phase of K-feldspars and 2Vα is shown diagrammatically.

Equilibrium relations of lead-tin sulphides in the system SnS-PbSnS2 were studied using a sealed silica-tube technique. A complete series of solid solutions forms in the system, and lattice parameters were found to vary lineally with composition. The melting temperature of the solid solution decreases with increasing amount of PbS from herzenbergite at 880 °C to teallite at 725 °C.

Evidences were found to indicate the existence of this series of solid solution in ore deposits.

Unit-cell dimensions and refractive indices of lithium-iron micas decrease with decreasing iron and increasing lithium. Indices β and γ as well as parameters a and b can be used to estimate the composition of lithium-iron micas but basal spacing and 2Vα are poor indicators of composition.

The chemical composition of natural lithium-iron micas from the Krušné hory and the Erzgebirge along the Czechoslovak—German border was discussed in Part A of this study (Rieder et al., 1970). It was concluded that the composition and crystallography of these micas fit best the series siderophyllite-polylithionite. The compositions were expressed by the ratio A′ = LR/(LR+‘Fe’). In this expression, LR is the subscript value of Li or octahedral R3+ (whichever is the smaller) in the crystallochemical formula, ‘Fe’ is the sum of the values in the formula of Fe2+ and Mn2+. A′ therefore defines the position of a particular mica on the siderophyllite-polylithionite join. This paper deals with the correlation between composition, cell dimensions, and refractive indices.

The Ergheo meteorite was inspected both by transmitted and reflected light in order to look for evidence of shock metamorphism by petrological observations. The stone is a well-recrystallized olivine-hypersthene chondrite that shows features of severe fracturing, prominent veining, and diffused cracking. The presence of several shock-transformed components is described in some detail. Ergheo is a meteorite that suffered particularly by shock in full agreement with Heymann's (1967) and Turner's (1968) statements.

Specimens of chlorophaeite and palagonite obtained from eight countries were examined using a variety of techniques. Investigations showed the materials to be not simple substances but multiphase composites. The confusion that existed in the literature necessitated a revision of the nomenclature and construction of criteria for identifying the two materials. Their nomenclature has been expanded: chlorophaeite to include the following phases; phase I, green and isotropic; phase II, golden yellow and isotropic; phase III, darker than phase II and anisotropic; a fourth phase, named associated material (A), microcrystalline, pale green and sometimes pleochroic. Similarly for palagonite, a golden yellow glassy phase, essentially basaltic glass (no new name needed); phase X, a hydrated phase slightly darker in colour than the glassy phase, also isotropic; phase Y, dark brown to orange, microcrystalline, anisotropic, found adjacent to phase X; associated material (M) green, anisotropic, often chlorite or chloritic. Both of the above descriptions were based on neotypes, established during the work. X-ray diffraction data for the two materials are given together with microprobe analyses of some of the phases of the two materials.

Cenomanian glauconite grains from the Isle of Wight often possess a thin, pale green shell or ‘corona’ of glauconite. Optical investigation led to recognition of two types of microstructure in these shells; an outer layer with tangentially orientated c-axes, and an inner isotropic layer. A third type of layer with radially orientated c-axes occurs both subjacent to the corona and at lower levels in glauconite grains. This latter occurrence is frequently a relic of a former corona, and indicates two or more periods of glauconite formation. The disposition of the microstructures allows some conclusions to be drawn with respect to the depositional history of individual glauconite grains.

Materials similar to the natural hydrated magnesium silicate mineral deweylite have been synthesized hydrothermally under low-temperature-low-pressure conditions from magnesia-silica gels. Optical, X-ray, infra-red, and DTA examinations have shown that both the natural and synthetic materials are mixtures of badly crystallized talc and badly crystallized serpentine. The mineral is thought to be a coarse mixture of these two components while the synthetic products are intimately interlayered. These materials are believed to be closely related to the hydrated magnesium silicates detected in high-magnesia cement hydration products.

The manganese ores of Elba, South-eastern Desert, occur as numerous veins located within a narrow belt trending N.W.-S.E. Three ore-types were distinguished: hard crystalline ore consisting mainly of pyrolusite or ramsdellite or both, banded colloform ore consisting mainly of psilomelane, and in places cryptomelane, and soft nodular ore consisting of todorokite with minor amounts of psilomelane (or cryptomelane), nsutite, and pyrolusite. Black calcite and baryte occur in some of the veins and increase with depth.

Based on the field and mineralogical evidence the origin of the ore is discussed. It is suggested that the ore is a very low-temperature epithermal fissure deposit of black calcite type that occurs near the surface (oxidation zone) in brecciated zones along faults.

During the transformation of manganite to pyrolusite the b-axis must contract about 15 %. There is evidence that the shrinkage takes place partly by contraction of the whole crystal, but electron-microscope investigations of natural pyrolusites and of manganite oxidized in the laboratory show that the reaction also involves the formation of lamellar pores about 85 Å apart, parallel to (010) of the original manganite. Thus, although pyrolusite is tetragonal, the a- and b-axes are not microscopically identical, a fact which could explain why, when natural pyrolusite is treated hydrothermally at 200 and 300 °C and 1000 bars, only one orientation of manganite is formed (Dent Glasser and Smith, 1968). The pores and the accompanying distortion of the structure act as a ‘memory’ of the parent phase.