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Published March 2008 | public
Journal Article

V^(3+)-bearing, Mg-rich, strongly disordered olenite from a graphite deposit near Amstall, Lower Austria: A structural, chemical and spectroscopic investigation

Abstract

An optical absorption spectrum, structural and chemical data of green V- and Cr-bearing tourmaline from the graphite deposit at Weinberg Mountain, west of the village of Amstall, Lower Austria, were obtained. To address the role of V and Cr in the spectrum of tourmaline, examination of additional samples of V- and Cr-containing tourmalines was conducted. This study confirmed that V and Cr produce similar spectra in tourmalines. However, the wavelengths of the 600 nm region band (Ec), and the 440 nm region band (E⊥c) varied in relation to the proportion of Cr in the sample. Likewise, the intensity of the 680 nm region spin-forbidden bands varies in proportion to the absolute amount of Cr in the sample. Molar absorption coefficients for both V and Cr in tourmaline were determined for the 600 nm region. For the E⊥c band, ε(V) = 12.3 ± 0.7; ε(Cr) = 39.7 ± 1.4; and for the Ec band, ε(V) = 11.9 ± 2.0; ε(Cr) =15.9 ± 2.8. In each case the Cr bands are more intense than the corresponding V band. These features can be used to confirm that the spectroscopic features of the Amstall tourmaline come dominantly from V. The optimized formula, calculated using structural and chemical data for the core of a 4 mm wide crystal, is ^X(Na_(0.69)Ca_(0.16)K_(0.01)□_(0.14)) Y(Al_(1.46)Mg_(1.34)V^(3+)_(0.11)Ti^(4+)_(0.05)Cr^(3+)_(0.02)Fe_(0.02)) ^Z(Al_(4.77)Mg_(1.23))(BO_3)_3^T(Si_(5.70)Al_(0.30))O_(18)[(OH)_(3.87)O_(0.13)], with a = 15.984(2), c = 7.222(2) Å, R = 0.017. The optimized formula, calculated using structural and chemical data for the rim, is ^X(Na_(0.67)Ca_(0.24)K_(0.01)□_(0.08)) ^Y(Al_(1.57)Mg_(1.24)V^(3+)_(0.11)Ti^(4+)_(0.05)Cr^(3+)_(0.02)Fe_(0.01))^Z(Al_(4.84)Mg_(1.16))(BO_3)_3^T(Si_(5.90)Al_(0.10))O_(18)[(OH)_(3.35)O_(0.65)], with a = 15.9175(5), c = 7.1914(4) Å, R = 0.014. Whereas the V^(3+) and Cr^(3+) contents stay constant, Mg decreases from the core to the rim. This is reflected by decreasing (from 2.013 to 2.003 Å) and distances (from 1.938 to 1.930 Å). The relative short distances and the enlarged distances show that Al and Mg are strongly disordered between the Y and Z sites in this tourmaline. We assume that the strong Mg-Al disorder between the Y and the Z sites in this tourmaline derived from a high-T overprint (∼750 °C, ∼6-9 kbar) during crystallization, which is supported by a relatively high amount of Al and low vacancies at the X site.

Additional Information

© 2008 E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. Received: June 20, 2007; accepted: September 14, 2007. Published online 2008. We thank Erwin Löffler, Emmersdorf an der Donau, Lower Austria, for helping with the collection of the tourmaline samples. Julius Petsch (Idar Oberstein, Germany), Herb Obodda (Short Hills, New Jersey, U.S.A.), and William F. Larson (Fallbrook, California, U.S.A.) provided samples used in this study, and Michail Taran (Kiev, Ukraine) provided additional data about his study of synthetic tourmaline. We sincerely thank Pavel Uher (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Yves Fuchs (Marne La Vallee, France) for their careful reviews of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by NSF grants EAR-0125767 and EAR-0337816 to GRR, and EAR-0003201 and EAR-9804768 to JMH.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023