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Nuwaite (Ni6GeS2) and butianite (Ni6SnS2), two new minerals from the Allende meteorite: Alteration products in the early solar system

  • Chi Ma EMAIL logo and John R. Beckett
Published/Copyright: November 28, 2018
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 103 Issue 12

Abstract

Nuwaite (Ni6GeS2, IMA 2013-018) and butianite (Ni6SnS2, IMA 2016-028) are two new chalcogenide minerals, occurring as micrometer-sized crystals with grossular, Na-bearing melilite, heazlewoodite, and Ge-bearing Ni-Fe alloys in veins and as mono-mineralic crack-filling material in igneous diopside in the Type B1 Ca-Al-rich inclusion (CAI) ACM-2 from the Allende CV3 carbonaceous chondrite. The chemical composition of type nuwaite is (wt%) Ni 65.3, S 10.3, Ge 8.2, Te 7.9, Sn 5.1, and Fe 1.7, with a sum of 98.5 and an empirical formula of (Ni5.95Fe0.16)(Ge0.60Sn0.23)(S1.72Te0.33). The simplified formula is Ni6(Ge,Sn)(S,Te)2, leading to an end-member of Ni6GeS2. The chemical composition of type butianite is (wt%) Ni 62.1, Sn 8.9, Te 10.3, S 8.9, Ge 5.3, Fe 1.3, sum 99.1, giving rise to an empirical formula of (Ni5.93Fe0.13)(Sn0.52Ge0.41)(S1.56Te0.45). Butianite’s simplified formula is Ni6(Sn,Ge) (S,Te)2 and the end-member formula is Ni6SnS2. Both nuwaite and butianite have an I4/mmm inter-growth structure with a = 3.65 Å, c = 18.14 Å, V = 241.7 Å3, and Z = 2. Their calculated densities are 7.24 and 7.62 g/cm3, respectively. Nuwaite and butianite are the first known meteoritic minerals with high Ge and Sn concentrations.

Nuwaite and butianite are very late-stage, vapor-deposited, alteration products, filling in pores within preexisting grossular-rich alteration veins and cracks in igneous Al,Ti-diopside. These phases and associated heazlewoodite and Ge-bearing alloys are observed only within the Ca-,Al-rich inclusion (CAI) and not outside it or at the inclusion-matrix interface. As only sections in one half of ACM-2 contain nuwaite/butianite, they were probably derived through a relatively low fO2-fS2 sulfidation process, in which a highly localized, low-temperature Ge-, Sn-bearing fluid interacted with a portion of the host CAI. It is likely that the fluid became relatively more Sn- and Te-enriched with time and that crack fillings post-date vein fillings, possibly due to a late remobilization of vein sulfides.

Keywords: Nuwaite; Ni6GeS2; butianite; Ni6SnS2; new minerals; Allende meteorite; CV3 carbonaceous chondrite; Ca-Al-rich inclusions

Acknowledgments

SEM, EBSD, and EPMA analyses were carried out at the Caltech GPS Division Analytical Facility, which is supported, in part, by NSF Grants EAR-0318518 and DMR-0080065. J.R.B. acknowledges NASA grant NNG04GG14G. We thank Klaus Keil, Mike Zolensky, and associate editor Steven Simon for helpful reviews.

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Received: 2018-04-22
Accepted: 2018-08-14
Published Online: 2018-11-28
Published in Print: 2018-12-19

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  1. Letter
  2. Rapid solid-state sintering in volcanic systems
  3. How geometry and anisotropy affect residual strain in host-inclusion systems: Coupling experimental and numerical approaches
  4. Special collection: Earth analogs for martian geological materials and processes
  5. Diverse mineral assemblages of acidic alteration in the Rio Tinto area (southwest Spain): Implications for Mars
  6. Special collection: From magmas to ore deposits
  7. Archaean hydrothermal fluid modified zircons at Sunrise Dam and Kanowna Belle gold deposits, Western Australia: Implications for post-magmatic fluid activity and ore genesis
  8. Special collection: Water in nominally hydrous and anhydrous minerals
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  10. Articles
  11. Nuwaite (Ni6GeS2) and butianite (Ni6SnS2), two new minerals from the Allende meteorite: Alteration products in the early solar system
  12. The role of magma mixing, identification of mafic magma inputs, and structure of the underlying magmatic system at Mount St. Helens
  13. Thermodynamic properties of natural melilites
  14. Thermal conductivity anomaly in spin-crossover ferropericlase under lower mantle conditions and implications for heat flow across the core-mantle boundary
  15. Electronic properties and compressional behavior of Fe–Si alloys at high pressure
  16. Diffusion of molybdenum and tungsten in anhydrous and hydrous granitic melts
  17. High-pressure single-crystal structural analysis of AlSiO3OH phase egg
  18. Structural variations along the apatite F-OH join
  19. Raman modes of carbonate minerals as pressure and temperature gauges up to 6 GPa and 500 °C
  20. Crystallization conditions of micas in oxidized igneous systems
  21. The role of crustal melting in the formation of rhyolites: Constraints from SIMS oxygen isotope data (Chon Aike Province, Patagonia, Argentina)
  22. New Mineral Names
  23. Book Review
https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2018-6599
Keywords for this article
Nuwaite; Ni6GeS2; butianite; Ni6SnS2; new minerals; Allende meteorite; CV3 carbonaceous chondrite; Ca-Al-rich inclusions

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Letter
  2. Rapid solid-state sintering in volcanic systems
  3. How geometry and anisotropy affect residual strain in host-inclusion systems: Coupling experimental and numerical approaches
  4. Special collection: Earth analogs for martian geological materials and processes
  5. Diverse mineral assemblages of acidic alteration in the Rio Tinto area (southwest Spain): Implications for Mars
  6. Special collection: From magmas to ore deposits
  7. Archaean hydrothermal fluid modified zircons at Sunrise Dam and Kanowna Belle gold deposits, Western Australia: Implications for post-magmatic fluid activity and ore genesis
  8. Special collection: Water in nominally hydrous and anhydrous minerals
  9. New high-pressure phases in MOOH (M = Al, Ga, In)
  10. Articles
  11. Nuwaite (Ni6GeS2) and butianite (Ni6SnS2), two new minerals from the Allende meteorite: Alteration products in the early solar system
  12. The role of magma mixing, identification of mafic magma inputs, and structure of the underlying magmatic system at Mount St. Helens
  13. Thermodynamic properties of natural melilites
  14. Thermal conductivity anomaly in spin-crossover ferropericlase under lower mantle conditions and implications for heat flow across the core-mantle boundary
  15. Electronic properties and compressional behavior of Fe–Si alloys at high pressure
  16. Diffusion of molybdenum and tungsten in anhydrous and hydrous granitic melts
  17. High-pressure single-crystal structural analysis of AlSiO3OH phase egg
  18. Structural variations along the apatite F-OH join
  19. Raman modes of carbonate minerals as pressure and temperature gauges up to 6 GPa and 500 °C
  20. Crystallization conditions of micas in oxidized igneous systems
  21. The role of crustal melting in the formation of rhyolites: Constraints from SIMS oxygen isotope data (Chon Aike Province, Patagonia, Argentina)
  22. New Mineral Names
  23. Book Review
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