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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2018
Schmidite, Zn(Fe3+0.5Mn2+0.5)2ZnFe3+(PO4)3(OH)3(H2O)8 and wildenauerite, Zn(Fe3+0.5Mn2+0.5)2Mn2+Fe3+(PO4)3(OH)3(H2O)8 are two new oxidised schoonerite-group minerals from the Hagendorf-Süd pegmatite, Hagendorf, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Schmidite occurs as radiating sprays of orange–brown to copper-red laths on and near to altered phosphophyllite in a corroded triphylite nodule, whereas wildenauerite forms dense compacts of red laths, terminating Zn-bearing rockbridgeite. The minerals are biaxial (+) with α = 1.642(2), β = 1.680(1), γ = 1.735(2) and 2Vmeas = 81.4(8)° for schmidite, and with α = 1.659(3), β = 1.687(3), γ = 1.742(3) and 2Vmeas = 73(1)° for wildenauerite. Electron microprobe analyses, with H2O from thermal analysis and FeO/Fe2O3 from Mössbauer spectroscopy, gave FeO 0.4, MgO 0.3, Fe2O3 23.5, MnO 9.0, ZnO 15.5, P2O5 27.6, H2O 23.3, total 99.6 wt.% for schmidite, and FeO 0.7, MgO 0.3, Fe2O3 25.2, MnO 10.7, ZnO 11.5, P2O5 27.2, H2O 24.5, total 100.1 wt.% for wildenauerite. The empirical formulae, scaled to 3 P and with OH– adjusted for charge balance are Zn1.47Mn2+0.98Mg0.05Fe2+0.04Fe3+2.27(PO4)3(OH)2.89(H2O)8.54 for schmidite and Zn1.11Mn2+1.18Mg0.05Fe2+0.08Fe3+2.47(PO4)3(OH)3.25(H2O)9.03 for wildenauerite. The two minerals have orthorhombic symmetry, space group Pmab and Z = 4. The unit-cell parameters from refinement of powder X-ray diffraction data are a = 11.059(1), b = 25.452(1) and c = 6.427(1) Å for schmidite, and a = 11.082(1), b = 25.498(2) and c = 6.436(1) Å for wildenauerite. The crystal structures of schmidite and wildenauerite differ from that of schoonerite in having minor partitioning of Zn from the [5]Zn site to an adjacent vacant tetrahedral site [4]Zn, separated by ~1.0 Å from [5]Zn. The two minerals are distinguished by the cation occupancies in the octahedral M1 to M3 sites. Schmidite has M1 = M2 = (Fe3+0.5Mn2+0.5) and M3 = Zn and wildenauerite has M1 = M2 = (Fe3+0.5Mn2+0.5) and M3 = Mn2+.
Associate Editor: Michael Rumsey