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Pliniusite, Ca5(VO4)3F, a new apatite-group mineral and the novel natural ternary solid-solution system pliniusite–svabite–fluorapatite

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Published/Copyright: July 27, 2022
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 107 Issue 8

Abstract

The new apatite-group mineral pliniusite, ideally Ca5(VO4)3F, was found in fumarole deposits at the Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, and in a pyrometamorphic rock of the Hatrurim Complex, Israel. Pliniusite, together with fluorapatite and svabite, forms a novel and almost continuous ternary solid-solution system characterized by wide variations of T5+ = P, As, and V. In paleo-fumarolic deposits at Mountain 1004 (Tolbachik), members of this system, including the holotype pliniusite, are associated with hematite, tenorite, diopside, andradite, kainotropite, baryte and supergene volborthite, brochantite, gypsum and opal. In sublimates of the active Arsenatnaya fumarole (Tolbachik), pliniusite–svabite–fluorapatite minerals coexist with anhydrite, diopside, hematite, berzeliite, schäferite, calciojohillerite, forsterite, enstatite, magnesioferrite, ludwigite, rhabdoborite-group fluoroborates, powellite, baryte, udinaite, arsenudinaite, paraberzeliite, and spinel. At Nahal Morag, Negev Desert, Israel, the pliniusite cotype and V-bearing fluorapatite occur in schorlomite-gehlenite paralava with rankinite, walstromite, zadovite-aradite series minerals, magnesioferrite, hematite, khesinite, barioferrite, perovskite, gurimite, baryte, tenorite, delafossite, wollastonite, and cuspidine. Pliniusite forms hexagonal prismatic crystals up to 0.3 × 0.1 mm and open-work aggregates up to 2 mm across (Mountain 1004) or grains up to 0.02 mm (Nahal Morag and Arsenatnaya fumarole). Pliniusite is transparent to semitransparent, colorless or whitish, with a vitreous luster. The calculated density is 3.402 g/cm−3. Pliniusite is optically uniaxial (–), ω = 1.763(5), ε = 1.738(5). The empirical formulas of pliniusite type specimens calculated based on 13 anions (O+F+Cl) per formula unit are (Ca4.87Na0.06Sr0.03Fe0.02)Σ4.98(V1.69As0.66P0.45S0.12Si0.09)Σ3.01 O11.97F1.03 (Mountain 1004) and (Ca4.81Sr0.12Ba0.08Na0.05)Σ5.06(V2.64P0.27S0.07Si0.03)Σ3.01O12.15F0.51Cl0.34 (Nahal Morag). Pliniusite has a hexagonal structure with space group P63/m, a = b = 9.5777(7), c = 6.9659(5) Å, V = 553.39(7) Å3, and Z = 2. The structure was solved using single-crystal (holotype) X‑ray difraction, R = 0.0254. The mineral was named in honor of the famous Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, born Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23–79). It is suggested that the combination of high temperature, low pressure, and high oxygen fugacity favors the incorporation of V5+ into calcium apatite-type compounds, leading to the formation of fluorovanadates.

Keywords: Pliniusite; apatite group; new mineral; calcium fluoride vanadate; fluorapatite; svabite; crystal structure; X-ray diffraction; Raman spectroscopy; electron microprobe analysis

† Deceased March 20, 2021

Acknowledgments and Funding

We thank anonymous referees and Associate Editor Paolo Lotti for valuable comments. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grants nos. 19-17-00050 (mineralogical characterization and crystal structure study of pliniusite) and 20-77-00063 (chemical study of the pliniusite-svabite-fluorapatite solid-solution system). A.K. gives thanks for the support in the mineralogical study of Hatrurim pliniusite from the National Science Centre (NCN) of Poland, Grant Preludium no. 2016/21/N/ST10/00463. The technical support by the St. Petersburg State University X-ray Diffraction Resource Center in powder XRD study of pliniusite is acknowledged.

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Received: 2021-04-17
Accepted: 2021-07-18
Published Online: 2022-07-27
Published in Print: 2022-08-26

© 2022 Mineralogical Society of America

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-8100
Keywords for this article
Pliniusite; apatite group; new mineral; calcium fluoride vanadate; fluorapatite; svabite; crystal structure; X-ray diffraction; Raman spectroscopy; electron microprobe analysis

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Estimating kaolinite crystallinity using near-infrared spectroscopy: Implications for its geology on Earth and Mars
  2. The interplay between twinning and cation inversion in MgAl2O4-spinel: Implications for a nebular thermochronometer
  3. The effect of fluorine on reaction-rim growth dynamics in the ternary CaO-MgO-SiO2 system
  4. Seeing through metamorphic overprints in Archean granulites: Combined high-resolution thermometry and phase equilibrium modeling of the Lewisian Complex, Scotland
  5. Interphase misorientation as a tool to study metamorphic reactions and crystallization in geological materials
  6. Trace element partitioning between olivine and melt in lunar basalts
  7. Solving the iron quantification problem in low-kV EPMA: An essential step toward improved analytical spatial resolution in electron probe microanalysis—Fe-sulfides
  8. Zircon geochronological and geochemical insights into pluton building and volcanic-hypabyssal-plutonic connections: Oki-Dōzen, Sea of Japan—A complex intraplate alkaline volcano
  9. Using cathodoluminescence to identify oscillatory zoning of perthitic K‑feldspar from the equigranular Toki granite
  10. Influence of intensive parameters and assemblies on friction evolution during piston-cylinder experiments
  11. Formation process of Al-rich calcium amphibole in quartz-bearing eclogites from The Sulu Belt, China
  12. Helvine-danalite mineralogy of the Dulong Sn-Zn polymetallic deposit in southeast Yunnan, China
  13. Native gold enrichment process during growth of chalcopyrite-lined conduits within a modern hydrothermal chimney (Manus Basin, PNG)
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  15. Heamanite-(Ce), (K0.5Ce0.5)TiO3, a new perovskite supergroup mineral found in diamond from Gahcho Kué, Canada
  16. A revised analysis of ferrihydrite at liquid helium temperature using Mössbauer spectroscopy
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