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Nazarovite, Ni12P5, a new terrestrial and meteoritic mineral structurally related to nickelphosphide, Ni3P

  • Sergey N. Britvin , Mikhail N. Murashko , Maria G. Krzhizhanovskaya , Oleg S. Vereshchagin ORCID logo , Yevgeny Vapnik , Vladimir V. Shilovskikh ORCID logo , Maksim S. Lozhkin and Edita V. Obolonskaya
Published/Copyright: September 29, 2022
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 107 Issue 10

Abstract

Nazarovite, Ni12P5, is a new natural phosphide discovered on Earth and in meteorites. Terrestrial nazarovite originates from phosphide assemblages confined to pyrometamorphic suite of the Hatrurim Formation (the Mottled Zone), the Dead Sea basin, Negev desert, Israel. Meteoritic nazarovite was identified among Ni-rich phosphide precipitates extracted from the Marjalahti meteorite (main group pallasite). Terrestrial mineral occurs as micrometer-sized lamella intergrown with transjordanite (Ni2P). Meteoritic nazarovite forms chisel-like crystals up to 8 μm long. The mineral is tetragonal, space group I4/m. The unit-cell parameters of terrestrial and meteoritic material, respectively: a 8.640(1) and 8.6543(3), c 5.071(3), and 5.0665(2) Å, V 378.5(2), and 379.47(3) Å3, Z = 2. The crystal structure of terrestrial nazarovite was solved and refined on the basis of X‑ray single-crystal data (R1 = 0.0516), whereas the structure of meteoritic mineral was refined by the Rietveld method using an X‑ray powder diffraction profile (RB = 0.22%). The mineral is structurally similar to phosphides of schreibersite–nickelphosphide join, Fe3P-Ni3P. Chemical composition of nazarovite (terrestrial/meteoritic, electron microprobe, wt%): Ni 81.87/78.59, Fe <0.2/4.10; Co <0.2/0.07, P 18.16/17.91, total 100.03/100.67, leading to the empirical formula Ni11.97P5.03 and (Ni11.43Fe0.63Co0.01)12.07P4.94, based on 17 atoms per formula unit. Nazarovite formation in nature, both on Earth and in meteorites, is related to the processes of Fe/Ni fractionation in solid state, at temperatures below 1100 °C.

Keywords: Ni12P5; nickelphosphide; Fe-Ni-P system; crystal structure; pyrometamorphism; meteorite; planetary interiors; nanoprecipitates

Acknowledgments and Funding

This study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, grant 18-17-00079. The authors are indebted to the curators of the Mining Museum, St. Petersburg Mining Institute, for the specimen of the Marjalahti pallasite provided for this study. We gratefully acknowledge the referees, Laurence Garvie and Michael Zolensky, for helpful comments and suggestions, and the Technical Editor for the crystallographic data corrections. This paper has benefited from editorial handling by Daniel Hummer. The authors are thankful to the X‑ray Diffraction Centre, Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Nanophotonics, Nanotechnology and Geomodel Resource Centres of St. Petersburg State University for the access to instrumental and computational resources.

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Received: 2021-07-15
Accepted: 2021-10-19
Published Online: 2022-09-29
Published in Print: 2022-10-26

© 2022 Mineralogical Society of America

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-8219
Keywords for this article
Ni12P5; nickelphosphide; Fe-Ni-P system; crystal structure; pyrometamorphism; meteorite; planetary interiors; nanoprecipitates

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Experimentally derived F, Cl, and Br fluid/melt partitioning of intermediate to silicic melts in shallow magmatic systems
  2. Spectroscopic study on the local structure of sulfate ( S O 4 2 − ) incorporated in scorodite (FeAsO4·2H2O) lattice: Implications for understanding the Fe(III)-As(V)- S O 4 2 − -bearing minerals formation
  3. Oxidation of arcs and mantle wedges by reduction of manganese in pelagic sediments during seafloor subduction
  4. Raman scattering and Cr3+ luminescence study on the structural behavior of δ-AlOOH at high pressures
  5. Jadeite and related species in shocked meteorites: Limitations on inference of shock conditions
  6. Pressure-induced C23–C37 transition and compression behavior of orthorhombic Fe2S to Earth’s core pressures and high temperatures
  7. Estimating ferric iron content in clinopyroxene using machine learning models
  8. Pyradoketosite, a new, unexpected, polymorph of Ag3SbS3 from the Monte Arsiccio mine (Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy)
  9. Pyrite geochemistry and its implications on Au-Cu skarn metallogeny: An example from the Jiguanzui deposit, Eastern China
  10. Synthesis of ferrian and ferro-saponites: Implications for the structure of (Fe,Mg)-smectites formed under reduced conditions
  11. Natural cubic perovskite, Ca(Ti,Si,Cr)O3–δ, a versatile potential host for rock-forming and less-common elements up to Earth’s mantle pressure
  12. Nazarovite, Ni12P5, a new terrestrial and meteoritic mineral structurally related to nickelphosphide, Ni3P
  13. Zinconigerite-2N1S ZnSn2Al12O22(OH)2 and zinconigerite-6N6S Zn3Sn2Al16O30(OH)2, two new minerals of the nolanite-spinel polysomatic series from the Xianghualing skarn, Hunan Province, China
  14. Tracing structural relicts of the ikaite-to-calcite transformation in cryogenic cave glendonite
  15. Oxygen-fugacity evolution of magmatic Ni-Cu sulfide deposits in East Kunlun: Insights from Cr-spinel composition
  16. New Mineral Names
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