The chemical factors controlling the rare appearance of garnet in Connemara amphibolites are elucidated, including the importance of low oxidation ratio (w), low Mg/(Mg+Fe+Mn) (mg), and high MnO. Pressure is believed to be critical in determining whether garnet is common in amphibolites in any one terrain and it is suggested that the ratio mg × w/MnO (called g) in serial analyses of garnetiferous amphibolites can be used as a measure of the pressure of metamorphism.

89 Connemara amphibolite analyses with plagioclase and hornblende are considered including 31 new analyses, which are reported. Of the 89 analyses, 10 contain garnet, 6 cummingtonite, 16 clinopyroxene including 3 with garnet and clinopyroxene and 2 with garnet and cummingtonite. The coexisting garnet and hornblende in 3 amphibolites have been analysed, including one sample in which brown-green and green hornblende, cummingtonite, plagioclase, garnet, and ilmenite have been analysed. Cummingtonite does not coexist with clinopyroxene or sphene and its presence is controlled by pancity of Ca as well as medium to low pressure in metamorphism.

In the Four Peaks region of Labrador Precambrian hornblende granulite facies metamorphosed basic dykes discordantly cross the foliation of garnet-hornblende-pyroxene granulites with sillimanite-garnet-biotite-quartz-feldspar gneiss. Most of the dykes are schistose or banded, but some are massive and undeformed with blastophitic textures. Mineral analyses are given for the equilibrium assemblage in one analysed clinopyroxene-orthopyroxene-amphibole-garnet-plagioclase- quartz blastophitic dyke. Dyke intrusion occurred after formation of the host rock foliation, while the metamorphism was about 1400 Myr ago.

Nepheline in a basic syenite from the Marangudzi complex is relatively Ca-rich with CaO from 1·9 to 2·4 (wt) %. This Ca-rich nepheline sometimes occurs in intimate intergrowths with plagioclase (andesine). These intergrowths are thought to have formed at temperatures in the order of 750°–850°C by resorption of plagioclase with simultaneous replacement by nepheline.

Trace elements in twenty samples of the Closepet granite (grey and pink varieties) and the related rocks have been determined by neutron activation analysis (Th, Rb, and Cs), fluorometry (U), flame-photometry (K), and emission spectroscopy (Pb, Sr). The trace element contents of the grey and pink varieties are generally similar. An analysis of the magnitudes of the trace element and other ratios (K/Rb, 235; Th/U, 6·4; U/K (× 104), 0·7; K/Cs (× 10−4), 3·6; Th/K (× 104), 5·3; Fe2O3/(FeO+Fe2O3), 0·27) as well as 87Sr/86Sr initial ratio (0·705; Crawford, 1969) of the Closepet granite indicate two possible modes of genesis: Either the granite magma was not highly differentiated and the vapour phase was relatively insignificant; the crystallization of the magma took place under essentially non-oxidizing conditions; the pink variety, which followed the grey variety, crystallized under essentially the same conditions as the grey variety. Or the Closepet granite had a two-stage history—palingenesis (starting from the Peninsular gneiss) and metasomatism involving the enrichment in K, Rb, Pb, and Th and depletion of Sr and Cs, among others.

A refinement of the crystal structure of spencerite, Zn4(PO4)2(OH)2·3H2O, was performed on a twin crystal from Salmo, British Columbia. Three-dimensional intensity data were collected by a Weissenberg apparatus. The R index was 0·098 for 335 independent observed reflections. The crystal structure previously determined is essentially confirmed. Co-ordination around Zn is both octahedral and tetrahedral. The atomic arrangement consists of complex sheets of co-ordination octahedra and tetrahedra around Zn and P atoms connected by layers of water molecules. The frequent occurrence of twinning in spencerite is explained from structural considerations.

The structural formula of stilpnomelane averaged from 37 representative literature analyses and based on the determined structure is (Ca,Na,K)4(Ti0·1Al2·3Fe35·5Mn0·8Mg9·3)[Si63Al9](O,OH)216·nH2O. Ferrostilpnomelanes have up to 12 R3+ cations in the octahedral sheet, ferristilpnomelanes commonly have between 24 and 30 R3+ cations, rarely up to 37. The two groups can be distinguished by accurate X-ray powder diffraction, ferrostilpnomelanes having d001 less and a greater than have ferristilpnomelanes. The unit cell is triclinic, a = b∼21·8 Å, γ = 120°, d001∼12·2 Å, P. Hexagonal groups or ‘islands’ of 24 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra co-ordinate to the octahedral sheet, the centres of the ‘islands’ are displaced by 5a/12, 8b/12 on either side of the octahedral sheet as a result of warping of this sheet to permit articulation with the smaller tetrahedral sheet. The 24-tetrahedra ‘islands’ are linked laterally by 6-member rings of inverted tetrahedra, which in turn link at their apices to like rings connecting the next sheet of ‘islands’. Thus a single tetrahedral layer is 4 tetrahedra thick and has symmetry 6/m. The 6-member rings of tetrahedra act as hinges permitting up to 0·5 Å extension or contraction of the tetrahedral sheet to accommodate variations in the octahedral sheet dimensions with varying R2+/R3+ ratio.

The net cationic charge of the octahedral and tetrahedral layers was calculated from the analyses of 100 biotites and 93 muscovites and compared to the observed hydroxyl contents (OH+F+Cl). The correlation coefficient between these parameters of −0·96 for biotites and −0·82 for muscovites demonstrates that the hydroxyl content in these micas varies in response to cationic substitutions. Thus substitutions in micas involve cation-hydroxyl replacement couples in addition to other modes previously recognized. Tetrasilicic phlogopite, K2Mg6Si8O22(OH)2, which is related to phlogopite by the substitution Al3+ + H+ = Si4+ was synthesized but is not a stable phase under the conditions investigated. This mica crystallizes as a 1M polymorph with a = 5·289(2) Å, b = 9·151(3) Å, c = 10·247(3) Å, β = 100°4(2).

Exchange reactions, such as Al3+ + H+ ⇌ Si4+, between phlogopite and pyroxenes at depth may provide a mechanism for release of H+ within the mantle.

Low Ceylon zircons showing an optical absorption band at 5200 Å appear to have suffered more radiation damage than other low Ceylon zircons. Very heavy fission-fragment irradiation failed to lower the density of each of two low Ceylon zircons significantly, although the specimens were rendered completely amorphous. Further fission-fragment irradiation experiments indicated that low Ceylon zircons showing a previously reported anomalous absorption spectrum have been heated late in their geological histories.

Large samples of the hexahedrites Scottsville, Indian Valley, Okano, Puripica, and Hex River Mountains from the British Museum Collection and a sample of Lombard have been prepared for metallographic examination and details of their structures have been mapped with the aid of a specially constructed X-Y plotting device that is geared to the stage of a metallurgical microscope. The following elements of structure have been studied and an attempt has been made to discuss the circumstances under which they were formed: clear etching and frosty etching kamacite, decorated Neumann lines, giant rhabdites, plate rhabdites, rhabdite clusters, microrhabdites, cohenite or decomposed cohenite, and troilite (which in some instances is recrystallized or remelted). In general the range of structural effects is similar to that previously reported for the Angra dos Reis hexahedrite (Min. Mag. 1971, 38, 94–101). The variations of structure are discussed in relation to nickel content and trace element chemistry of the meteorites.

A metallographic investigation of macro- and microstructure, supported in some instances by microprobe examination, has been made on a number of nickel-rich iron meteorites from the British Museum Collection. Monahans, Wiley, Cowra, and Deep Springs are considered together as plessitic irons rather than ataxites, whilst Morradal shows an unusual and coarse plessitic structure that has been altered by pre-terrestrial shock and reheating. Cape of Good Hope, Hoba, Tlacotepec, and Chinga show chemical and structural similarities and are discussed together, as are Weaver Mountains, Klondike, and Warburton Range. Meteorites considered separately include Kokomo, Piñon, Shingle Springs, South Byron, San Cristobal, Lime Creek, and Santa Catharina. Particular attention is paid to the presence of sulphides and of phosphorus-containing phases and their influence on the formation of the macro- and microstructure of these meteorites. Patches of oriented sheen form a macroscopic feature of the Cape of Good Hope group of irons and this effect is considered in relation to details of the microstructure. Attention is drawn to the fact that in Cowra, Piñon, Weaver Mountains, South Byron, and Morradal the troilite appears to have been remelted and dispersed by a shock event that operated at a temperature sufficiently high to allow obvious shock damage to anneal out of the metal phases.

Traces of a green chromian tourmaline occur in calcareous rocks in contact with serpentinite near Alpurai, Swat, West Pakistan. The petrography of the rocks and the optical properties of the tourmaline are presented along with its chemistry (it contains over 8 % Cr2O3 and about 0·2 % V2O3). The mineral is compared with other chromian tourmalines and its paragenesis discussed: it is thought to have been produced by silica-rich hydrothermal (or gaseous) solutions, which have crystallized as thin quartz veins in the calcareous rocks, introducing boron and other constituents.