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The composition of mackinawite

  • David Rickard ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: March 11, 2024
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 109 Issue 3

Abstract

The composition of a mineral is a defining characteristic. The various compositions listed for mackinawite in current mineralogical databases and reference books, such as Fe(Ni)S and Fe1+xS, are both wrong and misleading. Statistical analyses of over 100 mackinawite compositions reported over the last 50 years show a mean composition of Me1.0S where Me = Fe + Co + Ni + Cu. Mackinawite is stoichiometric FeS. As with many sulfide minerals, Ni-, Co-, and, possibly, Cu-rich varieties occur in addition to the simple iron monosulfide. These varieties are best referred to as nickelian mackinawite, cobaltian mackinawite, and cupriferous mackinawite. The results confirm that these metals substitute for Fe in the mackinawite structure rather than being contained in the interstices between the Fe-S layers. Most compositional data on mackinawites derive from electron probe microanalyses of small grains in magmatic/hydrothermal associations. The result means that there is no dichotomy between the composition of ambient temperature synthetic mackinawite (which is supposed to be equivalent to sedimentary mackinawite) and mackinawites from higher temperature associations. The correct representation of the composition of mackinawite has implications for a wide swathe of fundamental science, including the origin of life, the genesis of magmatic ore deposits, the provenance of meteorites as well as industrial applications such as water treatment and steel corrosion. The stoichiometric formulation permits the mackinawite formula to be balanced electronically using conventional Fe and S ionic species. It also enables simple, balanced chemical equations involving mackinawite.

Keywords: Mackinawite; iron sulfide; composition, formula; mineralogy

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Received: 2023-01-18
Accepted: 2023-05-14
Published Online: 2024-03-11
Published in Print: 2024-03-25

© 2024 by Mineralogical Society of America

Articles in the same Issue

  1. The efects of oxygen fugacity and sulfur on the pressure of vapor-saturation of magma
  2. Vergasovaite to cupromolybdite topotactic transformation with crystal shape preservation
  3. Experimental study on the kinetics of magnesiohornblende dehydration and its implications
  4. Thermal behavior of borax, Na2B4O5(OH)4·8H2O
  5. The composition of mackinawite
  6. Halogen fractionation during vapor-brine phase separation revealed by in situ Cl, Br, and I analysis of scapolite from the Yixingzhai gold deposit, North China Craton
  7. The effects of oxygen fugacity and sulfur on the pressure of vapor-saturation of magma
  8. A revisit to the phase transition behavior of K-feldspar at high-pressure and high-temperature: Implications on metastable K-feldspar in cold subduction
  9. Equation of state and structural evolution of manganese dolomite (kutnohorite) under high pressures
  10. A possible origin of the lunar spinel-bearing lithologies as told by the meteorite NWA 13191
  11. Vergasovaite to cupromolybdite topotactic transformation with crystal shape preservation
  12. Thermal conductivity of aluminous garnets in Earth’s deep interior
  13. Interaction of seawater with (ultra)mafic alkaline rocks—Alternative process for the formation of aegirine
  14. Experimental study on the kinetics of magnesiohornblende dehydration and its implications
  15. Predicting olivine formation environments using machine learning and implications for magmatic sulfide prospecting
  16. Reaction between volatile-bearing eclogite and harzburgite as a function of degree of interaction: Experimental constraints at 4 GPa
  17. Thermal behavior of borax, Na2B4O5(OH)4·8H2O
  18. Multiple magmatic processes revealed by distinct clinopyroxene populations in the magma plumbing system: A case study from a Miocene volcano in West Qinling, Central China
  19. Genetic implications, composition, and structure of trioctahedral micas in xenoliths related to Plinian eruptions from the Somma-Vesuvius volcano (Italy)
  20. Magmatic and hydrothermal controls on diverse Nb mineralization associated with carbonatite-alkaline complexes in the southern Qinling orogenic belt, Central China
  21. Potassium isotope fractionation during silicate-carbonatite melt immiscibility and phlogopite fractional crystallization
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  23. Nature and timing of Sn mineralization in southern Hunan, South China: Constraints from LA-ICP-MS cassiterite U-Pb geochronology and trace element composition
  24. A simple method for obtaining heat capacity coefficients of minerals
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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2023-8943
Keywords for this article
Mackinawite; iron sulfide; composition, formula; mineralogy

Articles in the same Issue

  1. The efects of oxygen fugacity and sulfur on the pressure of vapor-saturation of magma
  2. Vergasovaite to cupromolybdite topotactic transformation with crystal shape preservation
  3. Experimental study on the kinetics of magnesiohornblende dehydration and its implications
  4. Thermal behavior of borax, Na2B4O5(OH)4·8H2O
  5. The composition of mackinawite
  6. Halogen fractionation during vapor-brine phase separation revealed by in situ Cl, Br, and I analysis of scapolite from the Yixingzhai gold deposit, North China Craton
  7. The effects of oxygen fugacity and sulfur on the pressure of vapor-saturation of magma
  8. A revisit to the phase transition behavior of K-feldspar at high-pressure and high-temperature: Implications on metastable K-feldspar in cold subduction
  9. Equation of state and structural evolution of manganese dolomite (kutnohorite) under high pressures
  10. A possible origin of the lunar spinel-bearing lithologies as told by the meteorite NWA 13191
  11. Vergasovaite to cupromolybdite topotactic transformation with crystal shape preservation
  12. Thermal conductivity of aluminous garnets in Earth’s deep interior
  13. Interaction of seawater with (ultra)mafic alkaline rocks—Alternative process for the formation of aegirine
  14. Experimental study on the kinetics of magnesiohornblende dehydration and its implications
  15. Predicting olivine formation environments using machine learning and implications for magmatic sulfide prospecting
  16. Reaction between volatile-bearing eclogite and harzburgite as a function of degree of interaction: Experimental constraints at 4 GPa
  17. Thermal behavior of borax, Na2B4O5(OH)4·8H2O
  18. Multiple magmatic processes revealed by distinct clinopyroxene populations in the magma plumbing system: A case study from a Miocene volcano in West Qinling, Central China
  19. Genetic implications, composition, and structure of trioctahedral micas in xenoliths related to Plinian eruptions from the Somma-Vesuvius volcano (Italy)
  20. Magmatic and hydrothermal controls on diverse Nb mineralization associated with carbonatite-alkaline complexes in the southern Qinling orogenic belt, Central China
  21. Potassium isotope fractionation during silicate-carbonatite melt immiscibility and phlogopite fractional crystallization
  22. Yuchuanite-(Y), Y2(CO3)3·H3O, a new hydrous yttrium carbonate mineral from the Yushui Cu deposit, South China
  23. Nature and timing of Sn mineralization in southern Hunan, South China: Constraints from LA-ICP-MS cassiterite U-Pb geochronology and trace element composition
  24. A simple method for obtaining heat capacity coefficients of minerals
  25. Letter
  26. Molybdenum isotopic fractionation in the Panzhihua mafic layered intrusion in the Emeishan large igneous province, southwest China
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