Heyite (see preceding paper) is so strikingly similar to brackebuschite that a close comparison of the two species seemed advisable. Topotype brackebuschite (B.M. 55819) was used for this purpose.

Brackebuschite is a vanadate of lead, manganese, and iron, heyite a vanadate of lead and iron. Both species are monoclinic with diffraction symmetry P21 or P21/m. The X-ray cells are remarkably close: a = 8·810, 8·910; b = 6·155, 6·017; c = 7·651, 7·734; β = 111° 30′, 111° 53′ (brackebuschite first). As might be expected, powder patterns are strikingly close as well.

Other than the similarities noted above, the minerals differ so fundamentally that they cannot be the same—they are valid and distinct species. Optic orientations show α: [001] 20° (in acute β) for brackebuschite, 36° (in obtuse β) for heyite. Indices are (brackebuschite first): α 2·28, 2·185; β 2·38, 2·219; γ 2·49, 2·266 for the sodium D line.

Chemical differences are irreconcilable and reaffirm brackebuschite as Pb2(Mn,Fe,Zn)(VO4)2.H2O while heyite is Pb5Fe2(VO4)2O4.

The hyalotekite group has been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (memorandum 57–SM/16). The general formula of the minerals of the hyalotekite group may be written as: A2B2M2[Si8T4O28]W where A = Ba2+, Pb2+ or K+; B = Ba2+, Pb2+ or K+; M = Ca2+, Y3+ or REE3+; T = Si4+, B3+ or Be2+; and W = F– or □ (where REE = rare-earth elements and □ = vacancy).

Four minerals are currently known in this group: hyalotekite, Ba4Ca2[Si8B2(SiB)O28]F, triclinic, I$\bar 1$; khvorovite, Pb2+4Ca2[Si8B2(SiB)O28]F, triclinic I$\bar 1$; kapitsaite-(Y), Ba4(YCa)[Si8B2B2O28]F, triclinic, I$\bar 1$; and itsiite Ba4Ca2[Si8B4O28]□, tetragonal, I$\bar 4$2m.

We explore the possible end-member compositions within this group by conflating the properties of an end-member with the stoichiometry imposed by the bond topology of the hyalotekite structure-type and the crystal-chemical properties of its known constituents. There are two high-coordination sites in the hyalotekite structure, A and B, and occupancy of each of these sites can be determined only by crystal-structure refinement. If these two sites are considered together, there are 19 end-member compositions of the triclinic structure and six end-member compositions of the tetragonal structure involving A and B = Ba2+, Pb2+, K+; M = Ca2+, Y3+, REE3+; and T = Si4+, B3+, Be2+. There is the possibility for many other hyalotekite-group minerals, and two potential new minerals have been identified from data in the literature.

The crystal structure of magbasite from the Eldor carbonatite complex, Quebec, Canada, has been determined and indicates that the currently accepted formula should be revised to KBaFe3+Mg7Si8O22(OH)2F6. Magbasite is orthorhombic, space group Cmme (Cmma), with unit-cell parameters a 18.9506(3) Å, b 22.5045(3) Å, c 5.2780(1) Å, V 2250.93(6) Å3 (Z = 4). The structure has been solved and refined to final agreement indices R1 = 0.026, wR2 = 0.052, GooF = 1.116 for a total of 2379 unique reflections, and is a new kind of trellis motif related to amphibole and carpholite topologies. An amphibole-like I-beam ‖(100) of edge-sharing octahedrally-coordinated M(1,2,3) sites, which are filled by Mg, is sandwiched between double-chains of SiO4 tetrahedra ‖c. This I-beam is connected to side-ribbons ‖(010) of edge-sharing (Mg,Fe2+)O4(OH,F)2 and Fe3+O4(OH)2 octahedra to form a tunnelled box or trellis structure very like that of carpholite, for which the I-beams are pyroxene-like. K occupies a tunnel site analogous to the A site of amphibole. Ba occupies a cavity site at the corners where the I-beam and side-ribbon meet, and corresponds to the A site of carpholite. The structural relations between magbasite and carpholite are discussed.

Nickolayite, FeMoP, is a new terrestrial phosphide structurally related to allabogdanite (high-pressure modification of (Fe,Ni)2P), and the meteoritic phosphides florenskyite, FeTiP and andreyivanovite, FeCrP. From the point of view of chemical composition, nickolayite is an Fe-analogue of monipite, MoNiP. The mineral was discovered in the Daba-Siwaqa complex, Central Jordan, a part of the pyrometamorphic Hatrurim Formation (the Mottled Zone), whose outcrops encompass a 150 × 200 km area around the Dead Sea in the Middle East. Nickolayite appears as an accessory phase in the fused clinopyroxene–plagioclase rocks texturally resembling gabbro–dolerite. The irregularly shaped grains of the mineral, up to 80 μm in size are associated with baryte, tridymite, chromite, hematite, pyrrhotite, fluorapatite, titanite and powellite. Macroscopically, nickolayite grains possess light-grey to greyish-white colour and metallic lustre. The mineral is ductile. The mean VHN hardness (50 g load) is 538 kg mm–2. The calculated density based on the empirical formula and the unit-cell parameters is 7.819 g cm–1. In reflected light, nickolayite has a white colour, with no bireflectance or pleochroism. The COM approved reflectance values [Rmax/Rmin (%), λ(nm)] are: 48.5/46.5 (470), 50.5/48.5 (546), 51.8/49.9 (589) and 53.9/52.0 (650). The chemical composition of the holotype crystal is (electron microprobe, average of 4 analyses, wt.%): Fe 32.21, Mo 47.06, Ni 3.69, Co 0.13, P 17.45, total 100.54, that corresponds to the empirical formula Fe1.00(Mo0.87Ni0.11Fe0.02)Σ1.00P1.00 and an ideal formula of FeMoP. Nickolayite is orthorhombic, space group Pnma, unit-cell parameters of holotype material are: a = 5.9519(5), b = 3.7070(3), c = 6.8465(6) Å, V = 151.06(2) Å3 and Z = 4. The crystal structure of holotype material was solved and refined to R1 = 0.0174 based on 251 unique observed reflections. The origin of the mineral is probably connected to the processes of co-reduction of molybdenum- and phosphorus-bearing minerals during high-temperature pyrometamorphic processes.

The theoretical basis for the stability of binary and quasi-binary solutions is discussed with special emphasis on miscibility relations. Solutions of the distribution equations are presented for the case of two and three coexisting regular solutions and this model is used to illustrate the energetics of miscibility relations. The same principles are then extended to give a qualitative interpretation to sequences of mineral assemblages consisting of pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, and feldspars. A formulation is presented for the intrinsic stability of a solution, which depends on the presence or absence of an excess free energy of mixing, and the extrinsic stability of a solution, which depends on the standard free energy of the component end members.

The Tomhannock Creek chondrite has been analysed, with the following results: Fe 11·36, Ni 1·69, Co 0·07, FeS 5·26, SiO2 36·88, TiO2 0·135, Al2O3 1·80, Cr2O2 0·30, FeO 14·94, MnO 0·31, MgO 23·81, CaO 1·39, Na2O 0·73, K2O 0·095, P2O5 0·36, H2O+ 0·34, C 0·10; total 99·57. The mineralogical composition is olivine (Fo81), hypersthene (En83), plagioclase (An22), nickel-iron, troilite, chromite, and probably apatite. The density of the meteorite is 3·65.

Tomhannock Creek is not identical with Homestead, nor with Yorktown. Yorktown is a chondrite that appears to have fallen near Yorktown, Westchester County, New York (41° 17′ N., 73° 49′ W.), in September 1869.

Analytical data on a garnet-chlorite rock and the contained garnet with spectrographic determinations of the trace elements are presented, and the principles determining the distribution of these elements between the garnet and the chlorite are discussed.

During the last year, Dr. R. H. Rastall has been engaged on an investigation of the mineral content of certain sandstones of Middle Jurassic age in north-east Yorkshire. These sandstones proved to be unusually rich in the titanium minerals rutile and anatase. In some samples the proportion of the last-named is greater than in any other specimen previously recorded, so far as can be ascertained. Some of the heavy-mineral separations also contained a number of crystals of quite unmistakable brookite, with normal crystallographic development and normal optical properties, namely Bx perpendicular to (100) and intense dispersion ρ > v. Associated with these, however, there were often observed a number of smaller crystals of very similar appearance, whose optical orientation seemed to be entirely different. In particular, no optic picture could be obtained, and the extinction between crossed nicols in parallel light was perfectly sharp, with no suggestion of strong dispersion. Dr. Rastall therefore asked me to carry out some further investigations into the nature of these crystals, which were unlike anything he had previously seen in sedimentary rocks.

Of the many small manganese deposits which have in the past been worked in both Cornwall and Devonshire that of Treburland is from the mineralogical point of view by far the most remarkable, its especial interest being due to the variety of minerals which it has afforded and to the fact that it and one other are the only manganese deposits in the west of England which are known to lie on the contact of igneous and sedimentary rocks and which have consequently been vitally affected by contact metamorphism.

The following observations are based on frequent visits to the spot since the year 1906, when I first stumbled across the locality, which, strange to say, has only received very cursory mention by the Geological Survey and has altogether escaped mention in mineralogical literature.

A rock from the Mt. Painter area, South Australia, consists essentially of corundophilite (anal., X-ray) and corundum, with accessory boehmite, sapphirine, cordierite, muscovite, and rutile. The rock probably crystallized at 500 to 700°C under 20 000 Ib/in.2 pressure, boehmite being formed by retrogressive metamorphism at 120 to 280° C.

An X-ray powder pattern of idocrase (vesuvianite) from Canzoccoli, Italy, has been indexed by the method described by Nedoma (1968a, b). The improved X-ray data collected in the paper can be useful in identifying this mineral and in discussing the influence of diadochic substitutions on the lattice parameters of idocrase.

Golden iridescent, <1–100 mm crystals of alternating lamellae of anthophyllite and gedrite constitute the bulk of orthoamphibolite pods within quartz-cordierite gneisses of the Akulleq terrane at Simiuttat, SW Greenland. X-ray powder diffraction powder gave a = 18.526(7),b = 17.979(15), c = 5.285(23) Å; a single crystal has a = 18.546(7), b = 17.950(16), c = 5.280(1) Å, space group Pnma with some reflections being notably broader than others. Spot EMPA yielded composite analyses: AlIV = 0.89–1.3, Mg/(Mg+Fe2+) = 0.57–0.61, Na/AlIV = 0.22–0.26. AFM imaging of {210} cleavage surfaces, showed a uniform corrugated morphology parallel to [001]; wavelength was 190–350 nm, mean 250 nm, amplitude 3 nm. A plan view resembles TEM images of (010)-parallel exsolution textures of orthoamphiboles. A second set of corrugations may crosscut the [001]-parallel ridges at 20–25°, akin to reported lamellar intergrowths developed parallel to both (010) and (120). Unequivocal evidence linking topography with lamellae is absent. In contrast to the conventional multi-layer reflector model, the ridged surface provides an additional origin for iridescence, acting as a diffraction grating. Included zircons, 50–10 μm, have Hf/Zr = 0.008–0.012, Hf+FeIIc. 0.16. 207Pb/206Pb ages are from 2690 to 2770 Ma, averaging 2732±10 Ma. Coexisting, included Th-, La-, Ce-, Pr-, Nd-, Gd-, Y-monazites have 207Pb/206Pb ages from 2680 to 2720 Ma, averaging 2707±12 Ma. The included crystals grew during a late Archaean metamorphism that produced overgrowths on zircons within gneisses to the north, but with Simiuttat grains showing a more complex history. The lamellae may have developed at the same time, or during a reheating c. 2550 Ma, or in a subsequent Proterozoic metamorphism.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to study the aluminate sodalite, Ca8[Al12O24](CrO4)2. This aluminate sodalite has four polymorphs: one cubic, one modulated, one tetragonal, and an orthorhombic cell that arise from ordering of [Ca4·CrO4]6+ clusters that occur in the cages of the structure. The transition temperatures are 432, 453, and 610 K. The cell parameters for the orthorhombic phase, with the cubic cell parameter of a = b = c = 9.222 Å, are 3a × 2b × c. Transformation twins are formed at 432 K during the transition from the tetragonal to the orthorhombic phase. The twin plane is {110} in the cubic cell, and {320} in the orthorhombic cell.

The crystal structure of the first thallium-bearing gold telluride, honeaite Au3TlTe2, is reported and its topological novelty discussed. Honeaite is orthorhombic, space group Pbcm and unit-cell parameters a = 8.9671(4), b = 8.8758(4), c= 7.8419(5) Å, V = 624.14(6) Å3 (Z = 4). Its structure has been refined to R1 = 0.033, wR2 = 0.053, Goof = 1.087. The structure is based upon a corrugated double-sheet comprising two sub-sheets, each composed of six-memberedrings of corner-linked TeAu3 pyramids in which the Te lone pair is stereoactive. Rows of thallium atoms lie in the grooves between sheets and provide the only inter-sheet connectivity via Tl-Au bonds. There is extensive Au-Au bonding linking the two sub-sheets of the double-sheet.The structure is distinct from those of the 1:2 (Au,Ag)-tellurides: calaverite AuTe2, sylvanite AuAgTe4 and krennerite Au3AgTe8, which are based upon sheet structures with no connecting inter-sheet atoms. It also differs fundamentally from the structuresof synthetic phases Ag3TlTe2 and Ag18Tl4Te11, both of which have an analogous stoichiometry. In contrast to the pyramidal TeAu3 group of honeaite and krennerite, Ag does not form the corresponding TeAg3 group in itstellurides.

The new mineral chinleite-(Y) (IMA2016-017), NaY(SO4)2·H2O, was found in the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA, where it occurs as a secondary alteration phase. Chinleite-(Y) crystals are thin hexagonal {100} prisms (up to 0.3 mm long) with pyramidal terminations consisting of the forms {101} and {011}. Prisms are typically intergrown in divergent sprays, bow-tie aggregates or subparallel intergrowths. Crystals are colourless and transparent with a vitreous lustre. The streak is white and the mineral is nonfluorescent. The Mohs hardness is between 2½ and 3. Crystals are brittle with at least one good cleavage parallel to [001], probably {100}, and have splintery fracture. The mineral is slowly soluble in H2O at room temperature. The calculated density is 3.385 g cm–3. The mineralis optically uniaxial (+), with ω = 1.565(1) and ε = 1.603(1) (white light). Electron microprobe analyses yielded the empirical formula (Na0.507Ca0.285Y0.176)∑0.968(Y0.724Dy0.110Er0.053Gd0.037Ho0.021Yb0.013Nd0.014Eu0.005Sm0.008Ce0.010Pr0.003La0.002)∑1.000(SO4)2·H1.401O.The eight strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines are [dobs Å(I)(hkl)]: 6.01(59)(100), 5.43(63)(011), 3.457(46)(110), 3.010(100)(200), 2.826(95)(014), 2.1365(39)(006,122), 1.8493(67)(214) and 1.6901(28)(125,034). Chinleite-(Y) is trigonal, P3221,a = 6.890(2), c = 12.767(2) Å, V = 524.9(3) Å3 and Z = 3. The structure of chinleite-(Y) (R1 = 0.0444 for 303 Fo > 4σF), a three-dimensional framework, consisting of SO4 groups, irregular NaO8 polyhedra and YO9 distorted tricapped trigonal prisms, is similar to the structure of bassanite.