Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T23:50:01.529Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new occurrence of musgravite, a rare beryllium oxide, in the Caledonides of North-East Greenland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

B. Chadwick ,
C. R. L. Friend ,
M. C. George  and
W. T. Perkins
B. Chadwick
Affiliation:
Earth Resources Centre, University, Exeter EX4 4QE
C. R. L. Friend
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford OX3 0BP
M. C. George
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University, Exeter EX4 4QL
W. T. Perkins
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Musgravite, Be(MgFeZn)2Al6O12, is associated with norbergite and minor chlorite in a Precambrian calcite marble within the gneissic basement in an internal part of the Caledonian mobile belt in Dove Bugt, North-East Greenland. It commonly occurs as vitreous black, idioblastic crystals (<7 mm in size) with combined rhombohedral and basal pinacoid forms. XRD data show that its space group is R3m and its unit cell dimensions are a 5.687 ± 0.002 Å and c 41.16 ± 0.02 Å. Electron microprobe and ICP-MS analyses have yielded BeO 5.51 wt.% and ranges in abundance (wt.%): Al2O3 68.74-70.63; Tot, Fe as FeO 6.76-7.89; MgO 12.17-13.98; and ZnO 3.22-4.47. ICP-MS analysis also revealed significant trace amounts of V 249 ppm, Cr 740 ppm and Ga 178 ppm. The crystallographic parameters and composition are broadly in accord with those of musgravite from the two other recorded occurrences, in Precambrian high-grade terrains in Australia and Antarctica, although mineral and rock associations in these localities differ from those in Dove Bugt. The source of beryllium in each of the musgravite occurrences is uncertain, although a metasomatic source related to granite emplacement is favoured for the occurrence in North-East Greenland.

Keywords

musgraviteberylliumNorth-East Greenland
Type
Mineralogy
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 57 , Issue 386 , March 1993 , pp. 121 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, B. W., Payne, C. I., and Claringbull, G. F. (1951) Taaffeite, a new beryllium mineral, found as a cut gemstone. Mineral. Mag., 29, 765–72.Google Scholar
Beus, A. A. (1966) Geochemistry of Beryllium and Genetic Types of Beryllium Deposits. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Burke, E. A. J. and Lustenhouwer, W. J. (1981) Pehrmanite, a new beryllium mineral from Rosendal pegmatite, Kemio Island, southwestern Finland. Can. Mineral., 19, 311–4.Google Scholar
Chadwick, B. and Friend, C. R. L. (1991) The high-grade gneisses in the south-west of Dove Bugt: an old gneiss complex in a deep part of the Caledonides of North-East Greenland. GrOnlands Geologiske Undersogelse Rapport 152, 103–11.Google Scholar
Chadwick, B. and Friend, C. R. L. and Higgins, A. K. (1990) The crystalline rocks of western and southern Dove Bugt, North-east Greenland. Ibid., 148, 127-32.Google Scholar
Gatehouse, B. M. and Grey, I. E. (1982) The crystal structure of högbomite-SH. Amer. Mineral., 67, 373–80.Google Scholar
Grew, E. S. (1981) Surinamite, taaffeite and beryllian sapphirine from pegmatites in granulite-facies rocks of Casey Bay, Enderby Land, Antarctica. Ibid., 66, 1022-33.Google Scholar
Grew, E. S. (1984) A review of Antarctic granulite-facies rocks. Tectonophys., 105, 177–91.Google Scholar
Henriksen, N. (1989) Regional geological investigations and 1:500000 mapping in North-East Greenland. GrOnlands Geologiske UndersCgelse Rapport, 145, 88–90.Google Scholar
Hudson, D. R., Wilson, A. F., and Threadgold, I. M. (1967) A new polytypc of taaffeite—a rare beryllium mineral from the granulites of central Australia. Mineral. Mag., 36, 305–10.Google Scholar
Kozhevnikov, O. K., Dashkevich, I. M., Zakharov, A. A., Kasbayev, A. A., Kukhrinkova, N. V., and Sinkevich, T. P. (1975) First taaffeite find in the USSR. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Earth Science Sections, 224, 120–1.Google Scholar
Maboko, M. A. H., Williams, I. S., and Compston, W. (1991) Zircon U-Pb chronometry of the pressure and temperature history of granulites in the Musgrave Ranges, Central Australia. J. Geol., 99, 675–97.Google Scholar
Nuber, B. and Schmetzer, K. (1983) Crystal structure of ternary Be-Mg-Al oxides: taaffeite, BeMg3AlsOa6, and musgravite, BeMg2Al6Om2. Neues Jahrb. Mineral., Mh., 393-402.Google Scholar
Peng, C. C. and Wang, K. J. (1963) Discovery of a compact structure with 8-layers. Crystal structure analysis of taaffeite. Scientia Sinica, 12, 276–8.(in Russian); Kexue Tongbao (1963) 70-1 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Schmetzer, K. (1983a) Crystal chemistry of natural Be-Mg-Al-oxides; Taaffeite, taprobanite, musgravite. Neues Jahrb. Mineral., Abh., 146, 15–28.Google Scholar
Schmetzer, K. (1983b) Taaffeite or taprobanite—a problem of mineralogical nomenclature. J. Gemmol., 18, 623–34.Google Scholar
Schmetzer, K. and Berger, A. (1990) Lamellar iron-free högbomite-24R from Tanzania. Neues Jahrb. Mineral. Mh., 9, 401-12.Google Scholar
Steiger, R. H., Harnik-Soptrajanova, G., Zimmerman, E., and Henriksen, N. (1976) Isotopic age and metamorphic history of banded gneiss at Danmark-shavn, East Greenland. Contrib. Mineral. and Petrol., 57, 1–24.Google Scholar
Teale, G. S. (1980) The occurrence of högbomite and taaffeite in a spinel-phlogopite schist from the Mount Painter Province of South Australia. Mineral. Mag., 43, 575–7.Google Scholar