Gatedalite, Zr(Mn2+2Mn3+4)SiO12, a new mineral species of the braunite group from Långban, Sweden

• Gatedalite, Zr(Mn2+2Mn3+4)SiO12, is a new mineral of the braunite group. It is found in hausmannite impregnated skarn together with jacobsite, Mn-bearing calcite, tephroite, Mn-bearing phlogopite,långbanite, pinakiolite and oxyplumboroméite at the Långban Mn-Fe oxide deposit, Värmland, central Sweden. The mineral occurs as very rare, small ≤60 µm), grey, submetallic, irregularly rounded anhedral grains. Gatedalite has a calculated density of 4.783 g/cm3. It is opaque and weakly anisotropic with reflectivity in air varying between 17.1 and 20.8% in the visible spectral range. Gatedalite is tetragonal, space group I41/acd, with the unit-cell parameters a = 9.4668(6) Å , c = 18.8701(14) Å , V = 1691.1(2) Å3 and Z = 8. The crystal structure was refined to an R1 index of 5.09% using 1339 unique reflections collected with MoKa X-ray radiation. The five strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines [d in Å, (I), (hkl)] are: 2.730(100)(224), 2.367(12)(040), 1.6735(12)(440), 1.6707(29)(048) and 1.4267(16)(264). Gatedalite is a member of the braunite group (general formula AB6SiO12). It is related to braunite (Mn2+Mn3+6SiO12) through the net cation exchange (Zr4++Mn2+)➝2Mn3+, which results from the substitutions Zr4+ ➝ Mn2+ at the 8-fold coordinated site (A in the general formula) coupled with a 2Mn2+ ➝ 2Mn3+ substitution at the 6-fold coordinated sites (B in the general formula).

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geokemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geochemistry (hsv//eng)

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