The Neoproterozoic Lofdal alkaline carbonatite complex consists of a swarm of carbonatite dykes and two plugs of calcite carbonatite known as the ‘Main’ and ‘Emanya’ carbonatite intrusions, with associated dykes and plugs of phonolite, syenite, rare gabbro, anorthosite and quartz-feldspar porphyry. In the unaltered Main Intrusion calcite carbonatite the principal rare-earth host is burbankite. As burbankite typically forms in a magmatic environment, close to the carbohydrothermal transition, this has considerable petrogenetic significance. Compositional and textural features of Lofdal calcite carbonatites indicate that burbankite formed syngenetically with the host calcite at the magmatic stage of carbonatite evolution. The early crystallisation of burbankite provides evidence that the carbonatitic magma was enriched in Na, Sr, Ba and light rare earth elements. In common with other carbonatites, the Lofdal burbankite was variably affected by alteration to produce a complex secondary mineral assemblage. Different stages of burbankite alteration are observed, from completely fresh blebs and hexagonal crystals through to complete pseudomorphs, consisting of carbocernaite, ancylite, cordylite, strontianite, celestine, parisite and baryte. Although most research and exploration at Lofdal has focused on xenotime-bearing carbonatite dykes and wall-rock alteration, this complex also contains a more typical calcite carbonatite enriched in light rare earth elements and their alteration products.

The columbite supergroup is established. It includes five mineral groups (ixiolite, wolframite, samarskite, columbite and wodginite) and one ungrouped species (lithiotantite). The criteria for a mineral to belong to the columbite supergroup are: the general stoichiometry MO2; the crystal structure based on the hexagonal close packing (hcp) of anions (or close to it); the six-fold coordination number of M-type cations (augmented to eight-fold in the case of slight distortion of hcp); and the presence of zig-zag chains of edge-sharing M-centred polyhedra. The ixiolite-type structure is considered as an aristotype with the space group Pbcn, the smallest unit cell volume, and the basic vectors a0, b0 and c0. Based on the multiplying of the ixiolite-type unit cell the following derivatives are distinguished: ixiolite type [ixiolite-group minerals; a = a0, b = b0 and c = c0; space group Pbcn; the members are ixiolite-(Mn2+), ixiolite-(Fe2+), scrutinyite, seifertite and srilankite]; wolframite type [wolframite-group minerals, ordered analogues of the ixiolite type with a = a0, b = b0 and c = c0; P2/c; the members are ferberite, hübnerite, huanzalaite, sanmartinite, heftetjernite, nioboheftetjernite, rossovskyite and riesite]; samarskite type [samarskite-group minerals; a = 2a0, b = b0 and c = c0; P2/c; the members are samarskite-(Y), ekebergite and shakhdaraite-(Y)]; columbite type [columbite-group minerals; a = 3a0, b = b0 and c = c0; Pbcn; the members are columbite-(Fe), columbite-(Mn), columbite-(Mg), tantalite-(Fe), tantalite-(Mn), tantalite-(Mg), fersmite, euxenite-(Y), tanteuxenite-(Y) and uranopolycrase]; and wodginite type [wodginite-group minerals; a = 2a0, b = 2b0 and c = c0; C2/c; the members are wodginite, ferrowodginite, titanowodginite, ferrotitanowodginite, tantalowodginite, lithiowodginite and achalaite]. Samarskite-(Yb), ishikawaite and calciosamarskite are insufficiently studied, tentatively considered as possible members of the samarskite supergroup. Qitianlingite, yttrocolumbite-(Y), yttrotantalite-(Y) and yttrocrasite-(Y) are questionable and need further studies. Polycrase-(Y) is discredited as identical to euxenite-(Y). Ixiolite has been renamed as ixiolite-(Mn2+), with the end-member formula (Ta2/3Mn2+1/3)O2. Ta- and Nb-dominant analogues of ixiolite with different schemes of charge balancing have the end-member formulae (M15+0.5M23+0.5)O2, M15+2/3M22+1/3)O2, M15+0.75M2+0.25)O2 or M15+0.8□0.2)O2 and the root name ‘ixiolite’ (for M1 = Ta) or ‘nioboixiolite’ (for M1 = Nb).

The crystallization of hexagonal NdCO3OH through hydrothermal synthesis carried out at slow (reaching the desired temperature within 100 min) and quick (50 min) rates of heating but at variable temperatures (165–220ºC) are reported here. The formation of NdCO3OH occurs via the crystallization of an amorphous precursor. Both the precursor and the crystalline NdCO3OH were characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and high-resolution electron microscopy. The mechanism of crystallization is very dependent on the experimental conditions (rate of heating and temperature treatment). With increasing temperature, the habit of NdCO3OH crystals changes progressively to more complex spherulitic or dendritic morphologies. The development of these crystal morphologies is suggested here to be controlled by the level at which supersaturation was reached in the aqueous solution during the breakdown of the amorphous precursor. At the highest temperature (220ºC) and during rapid heating (50 min) the amorphous precursor breaks down rapidly and the fast supersaturation promotes spherulitic growth. At the lowest temperature (165ºC) and slow heating (100 min), however, the supersaturation levels are approached more slowly than required for spherulitic growth, and thus more regular, previously unseen, triangular pyramidal shapes form.

A Fine set of loose crystals of felspar from Mt. Erebus was collected by Mr. F. Debenham on the British Antarctic (‘Terra Nova’) Expedition in 1910, and was acquired by the British Museum (Natural History) with the collection of rocks obtained on that voyage. These crystals are found in great profusion on the crater slopes, and their occurrence has been briefly described by David and Priestley, who referred to them as anorthoclase. On ascending the inclined floor of the second crater they saw ‘that the covering of snow became thinner until it almost entirely disappeared, being replaced by a surface formed of crystals of anorthoclase felspar from half an inch to four inches in length’.

In the course of the investigation of the nepheline-kalsilite system by Tuttle and Smith an X-ray method for determining the KAlSiO4 content of synthetic nephelines of composition (Na,K)AlSiO4 has been developed. This method is rapid and sensitive to about 1 % in composition ; details will be given in a later publication.

Natural nephelines usually do not have the ideal composition (K,Na)AlSiO4, for they often contain excess silica and certain substituted atoms like Ca and Fe. We have, however, used this X-ray method on natural nephelines to see whether it is also applicable to them. If the method proved satisfactory, information on the chemical composition of natural nephelines could be rapidly obtained.

The iron-titanium oxide minerals of three troctolites from the Freetown layered gabbro have been analysed using an electron microprobe. Comparisons of the analyses of the iron-titanium minerals with the data of Buddington and Lindsley (1964) provide temperature and oxygen fugacity information relating to particular magnetite-ilmenite grains. Magnetite-ilmenite grains occurring in different silicate environments within any one single troctolite rock have equilibrated at differing times in the cooling history of that rock and this enables part of that history to be established. The partial cooling histories established for the three specimens can be clearly distinguished, and are strongly influenced by the appropriate buffer reactions.

A study of xenocrystic material included in 57 Ma igneous rocks that outcrop in the Taourirt area of north-east Morocco has been made. The mineralogy of the host rocks is essentially clinopyroxene, rare olivine, titanomagnetite and either kaersutite or biotite. Feldspars (plagioclase and alkali feldspar) and nepheline are usually altered. Accessories may include haüyne, perovskite and ferriannite-rich annite. The complex xenocrystic assemblage includes various types of clinopyroxene, amphiboles, micas of differing compositions and various types of spinel. These inclusions did not dissolve in the melt and, as a consequence, the residual (alkali-rich) mineralogical assemblage is not modified. Their abundance is such that they may not significantly affect the major element compositions, but they may strongly influence the levels of certain trace elements such as Cr and Ni.

Svetlozarite, previously described as a new member of the mordenite group of zeolites, is reinterpreted as a multiply twinned and highly faulted dachiardite. X-ray diffraction study and transmission electron microscopy revealed (001) twins and (100) stacking faults. The former are attributed at least mainly to the insertion of a b glide plane between dachiardite sheets at each twin interface, which preserves the 5-ring linkages between the sheets. The latter are associated with loss of the C face-centring relation, and are attributed to replacement of shared 5-rings by linked 4-rings in the dachiardite sheets. Further study is needed to determine whether the structural faults in the dachiardite structures are chemically controlled.

The availability of reconnaissance scale geochemical maps for large areas of Canada enables spatial associations between major crustal structures and surface uranium content to be identified. Maps of the distribution of uranium for an area greater than 2 million km2 compiled from airborne gamma-ray spectrometry data are supplemented by maps for uranium, based on stream and lake sediment and some bore hole sampling. These are examined in relation to gravity, aeromagnetic and geological maps.

The radioelement distribution can be related in detail to exposed bedrock and surface geology, but in addition there is evidence of the control of uranium distribution by major structural features which are marked by granitoids containing elevated levels of radioelements; several of these granitoids are associated with large negative Bouguer gravity anomalies. The distribution of such granitoids appears to be related to ‘megashears’, as in the case of the South Mountain batholith in Nova Scotia, or zones of tension. A belt of uranium enrichment, the Athabasca axis which is characterized by uraniferous granitoids with negative Bouguer gravity anomalies and associated tension faulting extends 2500 km northeast-ward from Edmonton, Alberta to the Melville Peninsula. This structure passes under the Athabasca basin which contains many large uranium deposits. Recent evidence that granitoids enriched in radioelements can provide low-grade heat sources over periods of hundreds of millions of years, capable, in favourable situations of maintaining low-temperature hydrothermal circulation is considered to account for uranium and other mineralization in the basin. It is suggested that the transfer of radioelements into the crust at the end of the Lower Proterozoic, was a factor in the stabilization of North American craton.

A simple method has been developed for calculating the d-orbital energy levels of transition-metal ions in coordination polyhedra with both orthogonal and non-orthogonal distortions, using equations based on those derived by Ballhausen (1954). The input data are atomic coordinates, a standard value of the crystal field splitting parameter Δ at known metal-ligand distance, and the ratio of radial integrals B2/B4, which is approximately constant for a given ion. The method can be applied to polyhedra containing different ligands.

Application of the equations to the Mn3+ (M3) site in piemontite and the Fe2+ (M2) site in orthopyroxene gives calculated transition energies in good agreement with the observed band energies.

The calculations permit definite assignment of the great majority of d-d absorption bands even in multi-site phases, and enable discrimination of crystal-field and charge-transfer bands in mineral spectra. They also throw light on the fine structures of both oxygen → metal and metal → metal charge-transfer bands, and allow the calculation of crystal-field stabilization enthalpy and electronic entropy. The latter is a previously neglected energy term that contributes significantly to the energetics of reactions within and between phases containing transition-metal ions.

Small stones were recovered from a meteorite shower observed in Cameroon on November 13, 1952. The majority are LL6 specimens, Galim (a), but one is a chondrule-rich enstatite chondrite, Galim (b). Petrology and mineral chemistry were determined on polished sections of both types. Galim (a) has undergone multiple brecciation. During the first, chromite apparently recrystallized in healed fractures under more reducing conditions than those which prevailed when the silicates recrystallized. Galim (b) shows some features of petrologic type 3 but differs considerably from the other unequilibrated E chondrites. It is suggested that Galim (a) and Galim (b) belong to the same meteorite shower.

Malayaite and tin-bearing garnet occur within a skarn assemblage at Gumble, NSW. A metasomatic origin is proposed for these minerals under conditions of T = 300-500°C Xco2 < 0.30 and fO2 = 10−18 to 10−30 bars. Malayaite has formed as a result of reaction between a metasomatic fluid rich in Sn, F, H2O and silica, and tin-bearing andradite and wollastonite. The main requirements for tin-bearing skarn formation appear to be an F-Sn-rich granite, an iron-rich skarn assemblage, and a relatively long cooling history.

Sector zoning in solid solutions of Tutton’s salts (NH4)2M(SO4)2.6H2O (M = Co, Ni, Zn, Mg) and nitrates of divalent metals Me(NO3)2 (Me = Sr, Pb, Ba) grown from low-T aqueous solutions under controlled conditions is studied. The effect of crystal composition and growth rate (supersaturation) on the intersector difference in concentrations of isomorphic components is examined experimentally and modelled theoretically based on the phenomenological approach to crystallization in a ‘solid solution—aqueous solution’ system. Calculations show a predominating contribution of the selective adsorption phenomena in the formation of a sector-zoned crystal with usually minor, but sometimes a major contribution of growth kinetics.

Structural refinements of lawsonite have been obtained at pressures up to 16.5 GPa using angle-dispersive powder diffraction with synchrotron radiation on a natural sample contained in a diamond anvil cell. Lawsonite compresses smoothly and relatively isotropically up to 10 GPa. Its bulk modulus is 126.1(6) GPa (for K’ = 4), consistent with previous results. A trend of decreasing Si–O–Si angle indicates that compression is accommodated partly through the narrowing of the cavities containing Ca and H2O in the [001]ortho direction. At 10–11 GPa there is a phase transition from Cmcm to P21/m symmetry. The occurrence of a mixed-phase region, spanning >1 GPa, indicates that the transition is first order in character. The phase transition occurs through a shearing of (010)ortho sheets containing AlO6 octahedral chains in the [100]ortho direction, which causes an increase in βmono. Across the transition, the number of oxygens coordinated to Ca increases from 8 to 9, causing an increase in the average Ca–O bond length. The compressibility of P21/m lawsonite could not be determined due to solidification of the methanol/ethanol pressure-transmitting medium. On the basis of an experiment in which the P21/m lawsonite structure was heated to 200°C at 12.0 GPa, we predict a shallow positive P-T slope for the phase transition, and therefore no stability field for P21/m lawsonite in the Earth.

Manganese nodules from the central Pacific contain poorly crystalline todorokite and also small amounts of a post-depositional recrystallization todorokite. The Cu and Ni of the nodules is preferentially concentrated in the latter. Crystalline todorokite on Groote Eylandt does not contain Cu or Ni, providing further evidence that these elements are not necessary to the development of well-crystalline todorokite.

The tropospheric dust loading in Upper Silesia (Poland) shows a steady, annually averaged supply of minerals from natural and anthropogenic sources, industrial dust emitters, domestic heating, transportation, but with superimposed seasonal changes for some dust types. Samples of airborne and deposited particles were collected at monthly intervals between 1996 and 2001 in several cities of Upper Silesia. Dust samples were examined by X-ray powder diffraction, analytical transmission electron microscopy, analytical scanning electron microscopy, and electron microprobe microanalysis. The most common dust included quartz, gypsum, coke, soot, hematite, magnetite, wüstite, bassanite, graphite and various K-, Fe- and Mg-bearing aluminosilicates, in order of decreasing abundance. Minor phases included α-iron, sulphur, sphalerite, halite, sylvite, hercynite, franklinite, baryte, dolomite, ankerite, apatite, olivine and feldspars. Quartz, and specific industrial minerals, e.g. spinels, sphalerite, olivine and iron, occurred throughout the year in almost constant abundances. The amounts of all other dust components show seasonal variations; gypsum, baryte and other sulphates are particularly abundant in winter. In general, minerals related to low-emission sources are abundant in the winter time, while both natural dusts and dust from high-emission sources are predominant during the summer.

Thermodynamic data for the arsenates of various metals are necessary to calculate their solubilities and to evaluate their potential as arsenic storage media. If some of the less common arsenate minerals have been shown to be less soluble than the currently used options for arsenic disposal (especially scorodite and arsenical iron oxides), they should be further investigated as promising storage media. Furthermore, the health risk associated with arsenic minerals is a function of their solubility and bioavailability, not merely their presence. For all these purposes, solubilities of such minerals need to be known. In this work, a complete set of thermodynamic data has been determined for mansfieldite, AlAsO4·2H2O; angelellite, Fe4(AsO4)2O3; and kamarizaite, Fe3(AsO4)2(OH)3·3H2O, using a combination of high-temperature oxide-melt calorimetry, relaxation calorimetry, solubility measurements, and estimates where possible and appropriate. Several choices for the reference compounds for As for the high-temperature oxide-melt calorimetry were assessed. Scorodite was selected as the best one. The calculated Gibbs free energy of formation (all data in kJ·mol–1) is –1733.4 ± 3.5 for mansfieldite, –2319.2 ± 7.9 for angelellite and –3056.8 ± 8.5 for kamarizaite. The solubility products for the dissolution reactions are –21.4 ± 0.5 for mansfieldite, –43.4 ± 1.5 for angelellite and –50.8 ± 1.6 for kamarizaite. Available, but limited, chemical data for the natural scorodite–mansfieldite solid-solution series hint at a miscibility gap; hence the non-ideal nature of the series. However, no mixing parameters were derived because more data are needed. The solubility of mansfieldite is several orders of magnitude higher than that of scorodite. The solubility of kamarizaite, on the other hand, is comparable to that of scorodite, and kamarizaite even has a small stability field in a pH-pε diagram. It is predicted to form under mildly acidic conditions in acid drainage systems that are not subject to rapid neutralization and sudden strong supersaturation. The solubility of angelellite is high, and the mineral is obviously restricted to unusual environments, such as fumaroles. Its crystallization may be enhanced via its epitaxial relationship with the much more common hematite. The use of the scorodite–mansfieldite solid solution for arsenic disposal, whether the solid solution is ideal or not, is not practical. The difference in solubility products of the two end-members (scorodite and mansfieldite) is so large that almost any system will drive the precipitation of essentially pure scorodite, leaving the aluminium in the aqueous phase.

The distribution of various trace elements between the K-feldspar and albite phases of perthites from several pegmatites was determined by ion microprobe. Ranges in distribution coefficients (wt. % in K-feldspar/wt. % in albite) are: Li, 1.2–780; Mg, 0.2–1.1; P, 0.1–17; Ca, 0.02–1.6; Cs, 32–820; Ba, 24–284; Pb, 1.6–30; Fe, 0.3–0.7; Rb, 59–5505; Sr, 1.3–5.1. The trace elements are zoned within the K-feldspar lamellae and the profiles are interpreted as the result of cross coefficients in the diffusion matrix.