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Derbylite and graeserite from the Monte Arsiccio mine, Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy: occurrence and crystal-chemistry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2020

Cristian Biagioni*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via Santa Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Elena Bonaccorsi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via Santa Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Natale Perchiazzi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via Santa Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Ulf Hålenius
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden
Federica Zaccarini
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Geological Sciences and Geophysics, University of Leoben, Peter Tunner Str. 5, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
*
*Author for correspondence: Cristian Biagioni, Email: cristian.biagioni@unipi.it

Abstract

New occurrences of derbylite, Fex2+Fe3+4–2xTi4+3+xSb3+O13(OH), and graeserite, Fex2+Fe3+4–2xTi4+3+xAs3+O13(OH), have been identified in the Monte Arsiccio mine, Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy. Derbylite occurs as prismatic to acicular black crystals in carbonate veins. Iron and Ti are replaced by V (up to 0.29 atoms per formula unit, apfu) and minor Cr (up to 0.04 apfu). Mössbauer spectroscopy confirmed the occurrence of Fe2+ (up to 0.73 apfu), along with Fe3+. The Sb/(As+Sb) atomic ratio ranges between 0.73 and 0.82. Minor Ba and Pb (up to 0.04 apfu) substitute. Derbylite is monoclinic, space group P21/m, with unit-cell parameters a = 7.1690(3), b = 14.3515(7), c = 4.9867(2) Å, β = 104.820(3)° and V = 495.99(4) Å3. The crystal structure was refined to R1 = 0.0352 for 1955 reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo). Graeserite occurs as prismatic to tabular black crystals, usually twinned, in carbonate veins or as porphyroblasts in schist. Graeserite in the first kind of assemblage is V rich (up to 0.66 apfu), and V poor in the second kind (0.03 apfu). Along with minor Cr (up to 0.06 apfu), this element replaces Fe and Ti. The occurrence of Fe2+ (up to 0.68 apfu) is confirmed by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Arsenic is dominant over Sb and detectable amounts of Ba and Pb have been measured (up to 0.27 apfu). Graeserite is monoclinic, space group C2/m, with unit-cell parameters for two samples: a = 5.0225(7), b = 14.3114(18), c = 7.1743(9) Å, β = 104.878(3)°, V = 498.39(11) Å3; and a = 5.0275(4), b = 14.2668(11), c = 7.1663(5) Å, β = 105.123(4)° and V = 496.21(7) Å3. The crystal structures were refined to R1 = 0.0399 and 0.0237 for 428 and 1081 reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo), respectively. Derbylite and graeserite are homeotypic. They share the same tunnel structure, characterised by an octahedral framework and cuboctahedral cavities, hosting (As/Sb)O3 groups and (Ba/Pb) atoms.

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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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