The new mineral species vapnikite, Ca3UO6, was found in larnite pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Formation at Jabel Harmun in the Judean desert, Palestinian Autonomy, Israel. Vapnikite is an analogue of the synthetic ordered double-perovskite β-Ca3UO6 and is isostructural with the natural fluorperovskite – cryolite Na3AlF6. Vapnikite Ca3UO6 (P21/n, Z = 2, a = 5.739(1), b = 5.951(1), c = 8.312(1) Å, β = 90.4(1)°, V = 283.9(1) Å3) forms yellow-brown xenomorphic grains with a strong vitreous lustre. Small grains up to 20−30 µm in size are wedged between larnite, brownmillerite and ye’elimite. Vapnikite has irregular fracture, cleavage and parting were not observed. The calculated density is 5.322 g cm−3, the microhardness is VHN25 = 534 kg mm−2 (mean of seven measurements) corresponding to the hardness of ∼5 on the Mohs scale. The crystal structure of vapnikite Ca3UO6 differs from that of its synthetic analogue β-Ca3UO6 by having a larger degree of Ca, U disorder. Vapnikite formed at the high-temperature retrograde stage of pyrometamorphism when larnite rocks were altered by fluids/melts of high alkalinity.

The xenoliths, which are gabbroic in character, consist of kaersutite, titanaugite, plagioclase, and iron ore in variable amounts. Biotite and olivine are also occasionally present. New analyses and trace element data are given for two xenoliths and their coexisting kaersutite, titanaugite, and plagioclase. After discussing several possible origins with the aid of a principal latent vector variation diagram, it is concluded that they represent the accumulation of phases that crystallized from the Tristan magma at depths between 5 and 25 km. Evidence is also presented to show that the parental Tristan magma may be of trachybasalt composition.

As indicated by Tilley (1925), albite-rich schists and gneisses can inherit their abnormal chemical characteristics from sediments that are proving to be by no means rare. They may be rich in detrital sodic plagioclase or they may contain authigenie analcime. Some sedimentary analcime rocks (‘analcimolites’) carry normative nepheline and so offer potential parent rocks for nepheline-bearing gneisses provided that, in these gneisses, SiO2 ⩾ (4Na2O+6K2O) in molecular proportions. The chemistry and occurrence of soda-rich sediments are reviewed. Some New Zealand occurrences are newly described and hitherto unpublished analyses are presented for porphyroblastic albite schist and felsitic volcanic arenite from Otago, and for analcime-rich sediments from four localities.

Quantitative data are presented for the kinetics of crystal growth in an aluminosilicate glass to which a few wt % of a transition-metal oxide had been added. The composition of the base glass was CaO 3o, MgO 2, Al2O3 15, SiO2 53 wt %, to which the oxides of iron, vanadium, chromium, or zinc were added. Glasses were prepared with a range of high to low valency ratios in cases where the transition metal oxide could exist in two or more oxidation states.

Small quantities of Fe2+, Fe3+, Zn2+, V3+, V4+, and V5+ were all found to increase the kinetics of crystal growth from the glass phase. The magnitude of the effect is compared with additions of Mg2+ to the glass. Cr2+, Cr3+, and Cr6+ were found to decrease the rates of crystal growth. Values for the apparent activation energy for crystal growth ranged from ∼50 kcal/mole to ∼150 kcal/mole. The high values were found to be of the same order of magnitude as that for the activation energy for viscous flow in the glass at the crystallization temperature.

The results are interpreted in terms of the structure of the glasses and current theories on the rate of crystallization of glasses.

Degradation of contaminant hydrocarbons in groundwater by microbially mediated oxidation, linked to the reduction of electron acceptors, is fundamental to the strategy of ‘monitored natural attenuation’ (MNA) for oxidizable hydrocarbons, which is increasingly being adopted at polluted aquifer sites throughout Europe and North America. Commonly, oxygen is depleted and following the reduction of nitrate, solid-phase Fe oxides become the dominant electron acceptors. Arsenic, associated with Fe and Mn oxides in soils and sediments, may therefore be mobilized to groundwater and pose an additional threat to environmental receptors. In a pilot study of three aquifers in England, we have examined the extent to which arsenic is released to groundwater under Fe(III)-reducing conditions imposed by contaminant hydrocarbons. Results show that arsenic is locally mobilized in the Chalk to <10 μg/1, in Quaternary gravels to 70 μg/1 and in the Triassic sandstones to 160 μg/1. At the Chalk and Quaternary gravels sites arsenic mobilization is demonstrably linked to reduction of Fe- and Mn-oxides. This is not so at the Triassic sandstone site, where release of arsenic is related to elevated bicarbonate alkalinity. Redox-driven arsenic mobilization at other Triassic sandstone locations is possible. Further work is required on the solid-phase sources of arsenic in the aquifers, and to relate the hydrochemical observations to groundwater hydraulic conditions.

Here we describe preliminary research into the in situ electrokinetic generation of continuous iron-rich precipitates to act as sub-surface barriers for the containment of contaminated sites. This is achieved using sacrificial iron electrodes emplaced either side of a soil/sediment mass to introduce iron into the system, and their dissolution and re-precipitation under the influence of an applied (DC) electric field. Continuous vertical and horizontal iron-rich bands (up to 2 cm thick) have been generated over a timescale of 300—500 h, at voltages of <5 V with an electrode separation of between 15 and 30 cm. The thickness of the iron-rich band increases as the applied voltage is increased. Geotechnical tests in sand indicate that the iron-rich band produced is practically impervious (coefficient of permeability of 10—9 ms—1 or less), and has significant mechanical strength (unconfined compressive strength of 10.8 N mm—2). By monitoring the current, the integrity of the iron-rich band may be assessed, and by continued application of current, the barrier may 'self heal'. The iron-rich barrier is composed of amorphous iron, goethite, lepidocrocite, maghemite and native iron.

Pyroxene and mica found in plutonic rocks of the Little Murun ultrapotassic pluton exhibit trends of compositional evolution that permit evaluation of the differentiation sequence of the complex. Pyroxene evolves from diopside in kalsilite and phlogopite pyroxenites through aegirine-diopside in shonkinite to aegirine in late stage charoitite and evolved hypabyssal rocks. The compositional trend is unusual in that the hedenbergite content of the pyroxenes never exceeds 15 mol.% and is thus unlike pyroxene compositional trends found in sodic alkaline complexes. Mica is Al- and Ti-poor and ranges in composition from Fe-rich phlogopite through biotite towards tetraferriannite. Compositional trends of mica found in ‘lamproite-like’ hypabyssal rocks are identical to those observed in the micaceous plutonic rocks; hence the former are considered to be representatives of the lamprophyric facies of the magmas which formed the plutonic series.

The thermal decomposition of alunite and of mixtures of alunite with dickite or quartz or both has been studied, and X-ray determinations of the products at various stages of the decomposition have been made. Between 600 and 700°C the product from alunite is a mixture of anhydrous alum and amorphous alumina; between 700 and 770°C the anhydrous alum breaks down into aluminium sulphate and alkali sulphate; then in the prominent 850°C endothermic reaction three-quarters of the sulphate is lost, leaving a mixture of alkali sulphate and γ-alumina. The area of the 850 °C endothermic peak may be used as a measure of the percentage of alunite in alunitized rocks (alunite-quartz-dickite mixtures).

In order to be able to use the nature and scale of the exsolution microstructures developed in titanomagnetites as quantitative indicators of thermal history, it is necessary to have available accurate diffusion data for the system. Diffusion data for pure magnetite and Ti-poor titanomagnetites are available, but no data for diffusion in the centre of the solid-solution series exist. In order to obtain values for the activation energy (ΔE) and the pre-exponential factor (D0) for the interdiffusion of Fe and Ti in ulvöspinel-rich titanomagnetites, the natural microstructures developed in titanomagnetites from the Taberg intrusion, Sweden, were homogenized over a range of temperatures from 490 to 730 °C. From the model describing homogenization, values of 49.8 kcal mole−1 and 2.38 × 10−3 cm2 s−1 were calculated for ΔE and D0 respectively. Although the results obtained from these homogenization experiments are slightly less accurate than those which could be obtained by more conventional methods, the homogenization technique has several advantages which outweigh this drawback, namely the ease with which the experiment can be performed and the fact that the diffusion data can be obtained at significantly lower temperatures than is usually possible with more conventional methods.

Compositional changes in chromites are shown to be related to the degree of alteration of the grains to ‘ferritchromit’. The chromium content of late stage pyroxenites and tremolites may be related to the development of the ‘ferritchromit’. Analysed grains from the chrome ores are shown to have a different chemistry to the accessory chromites in the peridotites.

Bond-valence theory is used to explore the local arrangements involving vacancies at the Y and Z sites in the tourmaline structure. The local bond-valence requirements of all possible local arrangements around the O8, O7, O6, O3 and O1 anion-sites have been determined for Y- and Z-site vacancies locally associated with Li1+, Mg2+, Al3+, Fe2+, Fe3+, B3+ and Si4+. The results show that arrangements involving tetrahedrally coordinated TR3+-cations and octahedrally coordinated YR2+- and ZR2+-cations around O8, 07 and O6 can be ruled out, together with arrangements involving vacancies and YLi1+. As the occurrence of a Y-site vacancy (Y☐) is more in accord with the valence-sum rule than the occurrence of a Z-site vacancy (Z☐), Y☐ is more likely to occur than Z☐ in tourmaline. Local arrangements involving vacancies around O1- and O3-sites can be stable for OH−, but not for O2−. Of particular interest in this regard are the arrangements [YR3+YR3+Y☐]−O1(OH−) and [ZR3+ZR3+Y☐]−O3(OH−), which yield the smallest deviations from the valence-sum rule. Coupling these stable arrangements with 2 × [TSi4+ZR3+Y☐]−O6(O2−) forms larger vacancy clusters: [Y(R3+)2−O1(OH−)−y(☐)− O3(OH−)−O6(O2−)2−(ZR3+TSi4+)2]. In tourmaline, vacancies are more favoured to occur at Y rather than at Z, in tandem with OH− at O3 and O1, R3+ at Y and Z and Si4+ at T.

Based on petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical data, two groups of rodingites have been documented from the polymetamorphic Vumba Schist Belt of Botswana. Group I rodingites contain relict chromite grains with zoned uvarovite-grossular + clinopyroxene + epidote/zoisite ± quartz, whereas group II rodingites contain no chromite and uvarovite. Although the presence of chromite with Cr/(Cr + Al + Fe3+) ratio > 90, similar to chromites found in komatiites, suggests a possible komatiitic origin of group I rodingites, the major and trace element chemical data of most analysed basic rocks from this belt indicate that the protoliths of both groups of rodingites are related to basalt/gabbro of komatiitic affinity. The rodingites formed during the M3 phase of metamorphism.

The north coast of Cornwall, from Bude to Newquay, provides a continuous section through a major Variscan fold/thrust complex. Illite crystallinity studies have revealed a transition from diagenesis in the north to greenschist facies metamorphism in the south in the Upper Palaeozoic succession. More detailed studies of mineral assemblages in both metabasites and pelitic rocks support the regional pattern of metamorphism indicated by illite crystallinity, and show that locally in the Tintagel district, the grade of metamorphism may have reached middle to upper greenschist facies. An attempt to correlate the above data with temperatures (108–985°C) derived from O-isotope geothermometers is made. Interpretation of the metamorphic data presented helps to emphasize the tectonic importance of the major structures seen in the fold/thrust complex.

Tourmaline from the Kat Chay mine, Momeik, near Mogok, Shan state, Myanmar, shows a variety of habits that resemble mushrooms, and it is commonly referred to as ‘mushroom tourmaline'. The structure of nine single crystals of elbaite, ranging in colour from pink to white to black and purple, extracted from two samples of mushroom tourmaline from Mogok, have been refined (SREF) to R indices of ~2.5% using graphite-monochromated Mo-Kα X-radiation. 11B and 27Al Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy shows the presence of [4]B and the absence of [4]Al in samples with transition-metal content low enough to prevent paramagnetic quenching of the signal. Site populations were assigned from refined site-scattering values and unit formulae derived from electron-microprobe analyses of the crystals used for X-ray data collection. 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy shows that both Fe2+ and Fe3+ are present, and the site populations derived by structure refinement show that there is no Fe at the Z site; hence all Fe2+ and Fe3+ occurs at the Y site. The 57Fe Mössbauer spectra also show peaks due to intervalence charge-transfer involving Fe2+ and Fe3+ at adjacent Y sites. Calculation of the probability of the total amount of Fe occurring as Fe2+–Fe3+ pairs for a random short-range distribution is in close accord with the observed amount of Fe involved in Fe2+–Fe3+, indicating that there is no short-range order involving Fe2+ and Fe3+ in these tourmalines.

We have performed an experimental study of the influence of varying size and charge on cation partitioning between wollastonite and silicate-carbonate melt in the system CaCO3-SiO2. The experimental conditions (3 GPa, 1420°C) lie close to the wollastonite II tc/I tc phase boundary. Results for 1+, 2+, 3+ and 4+ partitioning show parabolic dependence of partition coefficients on ionic radius, which can be fitted to the elastic strain model of Blundy and Wood (1994), wherein partitioning is described using three parameters: site radius (r0), site elasticity (apparent Young's Modulus) and the ‘strain-free’ partition coefficient (D0) for an element with radius r0. The apparent Young's Modulus of the Ca site in wollastonite, obtained from modelling the 2+ partitioning data, is 99±3 GPa, similar to the bulk-crystal value for the polymorph wollastonite I tc. r0 decreases with increasing charge on the substituent cation, while D0 also shows an approximately parabolic dependence on charge, with a maximum for 2+ cations. Partition coefficients for divalent cations Zn, Co, Fe, Cd, Mn and Pb are lower than would be predicted from their ionic radii alone, indicating a preference for the melt. This may be a consequence either of cation-carbonate complexation in the melt, or of the more distorted nature of cation co-ordination environments in melts.

Cesanite occurs both as a solid vein (1 cm thick) and as a cavity-filling of an explosive breccia in core samples of the Cesano 1 geothermal well (Cesano area, Latium, Italy).

Cesanite is coloudess, medium to coarse grained, soft (H = 2 to 3) and light (ρmeas 2.786±0.002 g cm−3). It is uniaxial negative, ε = 1.564, ω = 1.570, with space group P63/m and cell parameters a = 9.442 (4), c = 6.903 (3) Å, for c/a = 0.730. Identifying spacings are 8.161, 2.822, 2.727,1.844 Å, in X-ray powder patterns strikingly similar to those of apatite. The chemical formula (microprobe analyses on two grains) is Ca1.53Sr0.03Na3.42K0.02[(Cl0.06F0.06OH0.44)(S2.99O12)]·0.44H2O, while the theoretical formula, derived from considerations on structural identity with apatite, is Ca2Na3[(OH)(SO4)3]. Cesanite is the end member of the apatite-wilkeite ellestadite series where [PO4]3− is entirely substituted by [SO4]2−, the charge balance being made up by Na+ substituting for Ca2+.

Th- and Zr-bearing perovskite and Zr-rich Ti garnet are described from the Polino calcite carbonatite, Italy. The garnets contain 6.05-7.50 wt.% ZrO2 in cores and up to 15.80 wt.% in rims. Silicon is low in these garnets and substantial Al and Fe 3+ has been assigned to the tetrahedral sites. A strong correlation of Si with Zr from published data suggests the possibility that some Zr may also be tetrahedrally coordinated. However, the chemistry alone does not constrain the site distribution of Fe, Ti, Zr and Mg unambiguously. The perovskites are very unusual in containing 2.81-3.27 wt.% ZrO2 and 1.48-1.71 wt.% ThO2. For comparison, new analyses are presented of the zirconium garnet kimzeyite and coexisting perovskite from the type locality at Magnet Cove.

Unusual corundum-bearing rocks occur in the Bond Range, northern Tasmania, in a hydrothermally altered Cambrian quartz porphyry. The assemblage exhibits quartz and corundum in mutual contact, a rare phenomenon, in association with andalusite, pyrophyllite, diaspore and other minerals. This metastable assemblage apparently resulted from advanced argillic alteration at moderate temperature and low pressure, followed by rapid depressurisation accompanying boiling of hydrothermal, granite-derived fluids. This corundum occurrence appears to be unrelated to the sapphires in placer deposits in Tasmania.

The Oligo–Miocene Ardestan quartz diorite to tonalite is part of widespread Cenozoic magmatism within the Urumieh–Dokhtar Magmatic Assemblage of Iran. The Ardestan pluton is composed mainly of varying proportions of plagioclase feldspar (normally zoned from bytownite to andesine), amphibole (magnesio-hornblende) and biotite. Biotite exhibits a range of Al values (~2–2.8 apfu) over very restricted Fe# ratios (0.42–0.56) which are characteristic of continental arc magmatic suites. High Ti2O contents of biotite (<6.1 wt.%) suggest a magmatic origin. Ti-in-biotite geothermometery gives a mean crystallisation temperature of 730 ± 56°C, slightly higher than calculated TZr.Ti°C (716 ± 50°C) and similar to the average TZr.sat°C (735 ± 26°C). These results are consistent with the low bulk-rock SiO2 contents, which provide minimum estimates of temperature and indicate zircon crystallised from a fractionated magma. Zircons from the Ardestan pluton have high (Sm/La)N (>10) ratios suggesting a magmatic origin. T–$f_{{\rm O}_{\rm 2}}$ calculations of oxygen fugacity between –13.6 to –16.9 indicate oxidising crystallisation conditions between the Ni–NiO (NNO) and Fe2O3–Fe3O4 (HM) buffers. Tight linear trends of log (XF/XOH), log (XCl/XOH) and log (XCl/XOH) vs. XMg represent a narrow range of $f_{{\rm H}_2O}$, fHF and fHCl, clearly indicating that physico-chemical conditions were essentially constant throughout the formation of magmatic biotite. The shape of crystal size distribution curves along with the medium Al and Mg contents in amphibole and biotite, respectively, are consistent with a history of magma mixing involving injections of basic magma into the evolving felsic chamber. Calculated residence time for Ardestan plagioclase crystals of ~630 years support field evidence that these plutons were emplaced at shallow depths.

Our knowledge of the rare rock type eulysite (A. J. Erdmann, 1846) comes almost wholly from Swedish occurrences amt hitherto no examples have been recognized from Britain. It is therefore of interest to place on record a new Occurrence of eulysites and related rocks from among Lewisian rocks of the Glenelg area, Scotland.

The rocks shortly to be described come from the vicinity of Totaig on Loch Duich between Totaig and Letterfearn, little more than half a mile from the first described occurrence of eclogite in Britain. These eulysitic rocks crop out on the hillside immediately south-west of Druideig Lodge. About 200 yards south-west of the lodge coarse garnet-paragneisses form outcrops associated with grunerite- and cummingtonite-garnet-gneisses, and a similar interbanded association is found at higher levels.