The Krymka chondrite contains an exotic graphite-bearing fragment that appears to be of a new type of material added to unequilibrated LL-chondrite during agglomeration on the surface of the parent body. The fine-granular texture without chondrules, two morphological groups of graphite crystals which differ in size and occurence, high content of troilite (11.3 vol.%), the high Ni (55.5–66.6 wt.%) and Co (1.59–2.87 wt.%) contents of the taenite and absence of kamacite, the presence of F-apatite, which is rare for meteorites but common for lunar and terrestrial igneous rocks, are the main features of the fragment.

The mineralogy and texture indicate: (1) the fragment probably formed by crystallization from a highly reduced silicate melt, which had been enriched in carbon; 2) the subsequent metal sulphidization lowered its abundance and resulted in the formation of troilite and the compositional features of the residual metal; (3) terrestrial weathering of an exotic fragment and the host part of the chondrite produced iron hydroxides, pentlandite and quite possibly magnetite.

Alkali feldspar phenocrysts (bulk composition Or75.0Ab24.6An0.4) in the subsolvus Shap granite comprise a fine-scale mixture of subregular pristine crypto- and micro-perthites with altered, micropore-rich feldspar with irregular microstructures. The regular perthites are strain-controlled intergrowths of Albite and/or Periclinetwinned albite exsolution lamellae within tweed orthoclase. The microperthites formed at ⩽ 590°C by heterogeneous nucleation of thin albite films which coarsened to > 1 µm length. Cryptoperthites developed at < 400°C by homogeneous nucleation of sub-µm long platelets between films. Platelets are coherent, but the coarser microperthite lamellae are semi-coherent, with pairs of misfit dislocations sub-regularly spaced along the albite-orthoclase interface. As much as 30% of any one feldspar crystal is turbid, a result of the formation of numerous µm to sub-µm sized micropores during deuteric alteration. In some areas, deuteric fluids gained access to the interior of feldspar crystals by exploiting semi-coherent film lamellae. Albite was selectively dissolved and micropore-rich irregular microcline was reprecipitated in its place. In other parts of the feldspars deuteric recrystallization completely cross-cuts the pristine microtextures and patch perthites have formed. These are coarse, incoherent to semi-coherent intergrowths of irregular microcline (replacing tweed orthoclase) and Albite-twinned albite. The deuteric reactions occurred at < 400°C; the main driving force for dissolution and reprecipitation was decrease in the elastic strain energy at the coherent interfaces of crypto-and micro-perthite lamellae, and the recrystallization of tweed orthoclase to irregular microcline.

The procedure for deriving interatomic potentials for molecular ionic materials, using empirical fitting procedures, is described. Potentials are obtained for carbonates, phosphates and perchlorates, and used to calculate crystal and lattice properties which are compared with available experimental data.

The application of serial lapping, imaging and image processing, and three-dimensional reconstruction techniques are discussed using the quartz-cemented Penrith Sandstone as an example. The study involves the characterization of the three-dimensional pore system microgeometry using combined back-scattered scanning electron and cathodoluminescence microscopy and focuses on the definition of post-compaction and post-cementation intergranular porosity networks. Sample preparation, section spacing and re-orientation and data presentation are described. Aspects of the application of serial section datasets and their limitations are discussed in relation to permeability studies.

Kinetics of atomic ordering in a potassium feldspar is simulated using massively parallel computing. The simulation method is based on the Monte Carlo algorithm for the Al-Si redistribution (the Kawasaki dynamics) combined with the lattice relaxation. The Hamiltonian has the symbolic form

where u represents displacements of atoms from ideal positions, and p the Al and Si occupation numbers. The model is purely elastic; there is no direct interaction between Al and Si atoms. The simulated crystal is a thin film with (010) surfaces and consists of 64 × 64 unit cells; the unit cell defined for the whole film contains slightly more than 4 formula units. The (010) orientation is chosen in order to preserve in the film the main structural feature of feldspars: crankshaft-like sheets formed by four-tetrahedra rings. This makes it possible to observe the Pericline twins only. At the late stage of the kinetic run these twins are clearly seen. The direction for the domain walls is determined by the spontaneous strain and changes with the change of the model parameters; considerable local deviations from this direction are observed.

A new procedure is described for locating mineral grains in geological samples prepared for microprobe analysis. This procedure uses a digital image of the entire sample surface to select points of interest. These features of interest must be visible in this external image. Once the sample is mounted on the specimen stage of the microprobe, the digital image is used as a ‘map’ to relocate minerals for analysis. The image can be recorded using either a video camera, fitted with a macro zoom lens, or a flat-bed scanner. A calibration procedure has been developed in which two indexing points are used to calculate the instrument stage coordinates from the pixel coordinates of the digital image. Following this calibration, the stage coordinates of any feature visible in the digital image can be displayed to facilitate rapid relocation. The procedure was evaluated by relocating magnetite grains visible in an optical image of a geological thin section. The repositioning accuracy in relocating 28 magnetite grains distributed over an area of about 20 × 30 mm was found to be 157 ± 102 µm (one standard deviation) from the video camera image and 48 ± 28 µm from a flat bed scanner image. The former image was thought to suffer from some optical distortion. The procedure may be applied to any microprobe instrument fitted with a digital x-y specimen stage. Future applications in relocating features visible in autoradiographs are currently being evaluated.

Palladium-bearing minerals from the Cauê iron mine, Itabira District, Minas Gerais, Brazil, are found in gold-rich jacutinga, a hydrothermally-altered Lake Superior-type carbonate-bearing oxide facies iron-formation. Palladium occurs as: native palladium with trace contents of Au, Fe and Cu; palladseite ((Pd,Cu,Hg)17Se15), which was found in the core of a grain of palladium; palladium–copper oxide ((Pd,Cu)O); and arsenopalladinite (Pd8(As,Sb)3), with inclusions of palladium–copper oxide. The palladium and palladium–copper oxide grains are coated with films of gold and commonly do not exceed 100 µm in width. These palladium minerals occur in hematite bands and in boudinaged bands of quartz and white phyllosilicate parallel to the S1 mylonitic foliation. Palladium-copper oxide also occurs as inclusions in gold grains which are strongly to weakly stretched parallel to S1.

Palladium mineralization is interpreted as synchronous with intense D1 shearing and contemporaneous with the peak of thermal metamorphism. At high oxygen fugacities and high temperatures (up to 600°C), Pd may have been transported as chloride complexes and deposited following changes in pH caused by mineralizing fluids reacting with jacutinga. Deposition may also have been prompted by the formation of insoluble selenide and arsenide–antimonide minerals and by the dilution of C1 concentrations in the mineralizing fluid. Textural studies, and the zonation observed in palladium and other hydrothermal minerals, suggest that oscillations in the physico-chemical conditions of hydrothermal fluids occurred during the mineralizing event.

The distribution of potassium and strontium, potassium and barium between feldspars and aqueous chloride solutions was studied at 700°C, 2 kbar and 800°C, 2 kbar respectively. The distribution of Sr and Ba between coexisting feldspar and chloride solutions is not ideal; Sr and Ba are enriched in feldspar relative to solution. In order to estimate the phase state of the chloride solutions, special experiments were conducted using the synthetic fluid-inclusion method in the systems KCl-BaCl2-H2O and KCl-SrCl2-H2O at 700–800°C, 2 kbar. It was shown that (0.5M KCl+0.5M SrCl2) aqueous solution is homogeneous at 800°C, 2 kbar. The 0.25–0.5M SrCl2 solutions are homogeneous at 700°C 2, kbar. The (0.5M KCl+0.5M BaCl2) solution is homogeneous at 700°C, 2 kbar and heterogeneous at 800°C, 2 kbar. Margules parameters for describing the excess energy of mixing of the (K,Sr)- and (K,Ba)-feldspar solid solutions were calculated. The integrated values of excess energy of mixing () were estimated for the different binary feldspar solid solutions, and a correlation of with the crystallochemical parameter ρ = (RA-RB)/D(Me-O) was observed. Feldspar solid solutions can be subdivided into three groups based on the relationship between , p and the stability of the solid solution.

Talc was identified as an equilibrium associate of omphacite, kyanite, zoisite, and garnet in some coesitebearing eclogites and as a retrograde phase in associated garnet peridotite from the Bixiling mafic-ultramafic complex in the Dabie ultrahigh-P metamorphic terrane, central China. Observed talc- and tremolite-bearing assemblages within the coexisting mafic and ultramafic rocks together with established phase relations for the simple system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O constrain the P-T path for retrograde metamorphism. This, together with reported talc occurrences from the Dora Maira massif, leads to the conclusion that UHP talc assemblages are confined to mafic and pelitic rocks of unusual chemistry, and are not stable at ultrahigh pressures in ultramafic rocks. Thus, talc cannot be an important H2O-bearing phase in deep mantle ultramafic rocks.

A sapphire, zircon and magnetite-bearing xenolith from Khao Wua, near Chanthaburi in Thailand, conclusively demonstrates a common origin for the sapphire, zircon and magnetite found in alluvial deposits in the Chanthaburi gem fields. The original aluminium- and titanium-rich octahedral magnetite crystal in the xenolith exsolved into hercynite, magnetite and hematite during cooling. It includes minor anhedral jarosite–alunite, possibly originating as an iron-sulphide-rich immiscible liquid. Uranium-lead isotope dating of zircon in the xenolith gives an age of 1–2 (± <1) million years (Ma). This falls within fission track ages for alluvial zircons (2.57 ± 0.20 Ma) from the Chanthaburi—Trat gem fields and within the potassium-argon ages of 0.44 to 3.0 Ma for the alkali basaltic volcanism in the Chanthaburi Province. These data suggest a common origin for sapphire, zircon and magnetite, and link them with the processes involved in alkali basaltic magma generation. The high iron and zirconium, low magnesium, and the inferred sulphides suggest pegmatite-like crystallization in an incompatible-element enriched, silica-poor magma (partial melt or fractionation product) in the deep crust or upper mantle. Etch features on exposed surfaces of the xenolith indicate that it was transported out of its equilibrium environment by the rise of later magma.

Early Proterozoic chemical sediments of the Birimian Supergroup in northern Ghana host several types of metamorphosed manganese-bearing rocks. Differences in the mineralogy and geochemistry can be attributed to facies changes in a mixed volcanic-volcaniclastic depositional environment. Manganese oxide-bearing phyllite, which is enriched in transition metals (Cu, Ni, Co, Zn), formed on the flanks of submarine volcanic edifices above an oxidation boundary. Towards the deeper basin, manganese silicate-rich gondites occur. These consist either of spessartine + quartz + ilmenite, or of spessartine + quartz + Mn amphiboles ± rhodonite ± hyalophane ± Mn stilpnomelane ± ilmenite. The Mn amphiboles are identified as manganoan actinolite, tirodite, and dannemorite. Sulphides are widespread as premetamorphic inclusions in Mn garnet grains. In the basin centre, chlorite schist containing garnet with 50–60 mol.% spessartine represents the most distal manganese-bearing rock which is highly diluted by volcanogenic background sedimentation. The origin of Mn-rich rocks is explained by heat-driven seawater convection systems active in submarine volcanic centres that provided hydrothermal solutions. Precipitation of different minerals depended on the geochemical conditions prevailing on the seafloor. During the Eburnean event (around 2000 Ma), the chemical sediments were metamorphosed to upper greenschist or lower amphibolite facies. Mineral assemblages in the gondites point to metamorphic conditions in the range of 450–500°C at 2–3 kbar.

We describe a model for framework silicates in which the SiO4 (and AlO4) tetrahedra are treated as perfectly rigid and freely jointed. From this model we are able to identify low-energy modes of distortion of the structure, which we call Rigid unit modes. These modes can act as soft modes to allow easy distortions at phase transition. We discuss three forces that will operate at a phase transition in conjunction with the candidate soft modes to determine which of the rigid unit modes will actually precipitate a phase transition, and illustrate these ideas by detailed discussions of the phase transitions in quartz, leucite and cristobalite. The model can also be used to estimate the transition temperature, and the theory highlights an important role for the stiffness of the tetrahedra.

Amphibolites in the Mesozoic part of the parautochthonous Lower Schieferhülle (LSH), the allochthonous Upper Schieferhülle (USH) and the overlying Austroalpine basement (AA) in and around the western Tauern Window (Eastern Alps) suffered a progressive Alpine deformation. Lineations and foliations L1-S1, L2-S2 defined by preferentially oriented (Na-Ca) amphiboles as well as F3 folds and further foliations Smyl and S4 in the metabasites are structures of successive deformational stages with a constant W-E main extension axis of strain. The (Na-Ca) amphiboles in assemblages with epidote, chlorite, albite/oligoclase and quartz are zoned with similar continuous zonation trends from early actinolite in the cores to magnesio-hornblende and tschermakitic hornblende, and from magnesio-hornblende to late actinolite in the rims in the three lithostratigraphic units. Geothermobarometry involving tremolite-edenite and (pargasite-hastingsite)-tremolite end-member equilibria in amphiboles allowed us to reconstruct prograde-retrograde P-T paths for the Alpine greenschist-amphibolite facies event. The paths passed P/Tmax at 6–7 kbar/600°C. Similar shapes of the paths in AA, USH and Mesozoic LSH indicate a common metamorphic history and a stacking of these units prior to or during the pre-Pmax evolution. Moderate P-T ratios are characteristic for the temperature-dominated compression paths and indicate continental collisional rather than subduction zone metamorphism. The middle to late Alpine greenschist-amphibolite facies event appears as an independent metamorphism along a complete P-T loop which may have followed an earlier and poorly documented high-pressure/low-temperature event.

Two types of gold can be distinguished in tetrahedrite from the Veitsch magnesite deposit, Austria. Primary gold present in unfractured massive tetrahedrite, has a grain size up to 18 μm and contains, on average, Cu 8.73, Ag 7.01, Au 78.63 and Hg 2.35 (wt.%). Secondary gold is present in fractures and is directly intergrown with digenite, covellite, Cu-thiosulphate, cuprite and chrysocolla but not with malachite or azurite. The secondary gold is up to 200 µm in size with an average composition of Cu 3.06, Ag 6.82, Au 86.41 and Hg 3.51 (wt.%). It is usually closely intergrown with thiosulphates containing up to 0.21 wt.% Au. This, together with the presence of ‘dirty’ gold with cloudy thiosulphate inclusions, directly indicates the transport and deposition of Au by a thiosulphate ligand. We believe this is the first reported direct evidence of gold transport and deposition by thiosulphate complexes in a natural environment.

MnxZn(1−x)CO3 solid-solutions were prepared at 5°C by precipitation from metal-bearing bicarbonate solutions. The solids were identified by X-ray powder diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. Zn2+ ions substitute extensively for Mn2+ ions in the crystal lattice of anhydrous rhombohedral carbonates. Throughout the 24 h during which the experiments were conducted, the aqueous solutions remained undersaturated with respect to pure oxides, sulphates, hydroxides and hydroxysulphates. The solutions, however, were supersaturated with MnxZn(1−x)CO3 of any given composition. Besides the anhydrous rhombohedral carbonates, Zn4(OH)2(CO3)3·4H2O was precipitated from an aqueous solution with initially high Zn2+ concentration. The negative logarithm of the solubility product of Zn4(OH)2(CO3)3·4H2O was estimated theoretically to be 43.9 (25°C). Remaining saturation with respect to Zn4(OH)2(CO3)3·4H2O was calculated accordingly. The suggestion is made that hydrated zinc hydroxycarbonate is metastable under the experimental conditions used here, but that it should transform into anhydrous carbonates.

We have carried out TEM observations of agates of geode origin and Beltane opals. Optically observable individual fibres in agates are composed of many fine fibres which consist of quartz crystallites of 8 to 100 nm in length stacked together parallel to <110> or <100> with c-axes perpendicular to the fibre elongation. The optically observable systematic striations in agate are found to consist of cyclic alternation of layers due to variation in grain size and porosity. Large quartz crystals, protruding into the spaces of geodes, represent the last stage of formation of these bands, and are merely a continuation of the banding sequence. Nanometre scale textures of cristobalite fibres were revealed in Beltane opals. The cristobalite crystallites have the size of 3 to 20 nm in length and are also stacked together. Our TEM results suggest that embryonic particles were formed in their corresponding growth environments and agglutinated to form fibres.

Ilvaite is sparsely disseminated in a serpentinized plagioclase wehrlite of the Asama igneous complex that underwent the Sambagawa regional metamorphism of pumpellyite-actinolite to greenschist facies. Ilvaite in the Asama complex is monoclinic (a = 13.019(5), b = 8.808(2), c = 5.850(4) Å, β = 90.19(4)°), and its composition is similar to the ideal end-member composition (). Ilvaite occurs in mats of serpentine (chrysotile); it probably formed during serpentinization, which might have accompanied the Sambagawa metamorphism. The associated secondary minerals include salitic clinopyroxene, magnetite and andradite. The ilvaite-free mineral assemblage that formed during the serpentinization is usually serpentine-clinopyroxene-magnetite, which is widespread in the complex. The phase relations between coexisting minerals suggest that the conditions during the formation of the ilvaite-bearing assemblage were reducing when compared to those of the assemblage serpentine-clinopyroxene-magnetite. The reducing conditions during the ilvaite formation were presumably brought about by hydrogen gas that1 was generated during the serpentinization of olivine.

The transmittance spectra of a synthetic alexandrite recorded along directions parallel to the three crystallographic axes are generally similar, but the observed colour changes along these directions under different light sources are quite different. Calculated hue-angle changes for the colours observed under different pairs of C.I.E. standard illuminants are the largest for light travelling parallel to the a-axis. Therefore, alexandrite should be cut as a gemstone with the top facet oriented parallel to (100) for it to show the most dramatic change in colour.

Some twenty kimberlite pipes outcrop along the eastern and western borders of the Kundelungu plateau, Shaba Province, Zaire. They are arranged roughly along two north-south trending alignments. The pipes probably intruded the Bangweulu Block, which stabilized around 1800 Ma. The exceptionally fresh kimberlites contain mantle-derived nodules (peridotites and eclogites), as well as megacrysts which may reach up to several cm in diameter. The most important megacrysts are garnets, ilmenites, clinopyroxenes, orthopyroxenes and olivines. Micas and diamonds are rarely observed. The clinopyroxenes can be subdivided in two groups: (1) a Ca-rich, low-T type, similar to the Cr-rich diopsides found in ‘depleted’ (granular) peridotites; and (2) subcalcic clinopyroxene comparable to the megacrysts and to the clinopyroxenes of ‘fertile’ (sheared) peridotites. The orthopyroxenes are less frequent and are Ca-poor enstatites (0.07–0.42 wt.% CaO) and Ti-bronzites (CaO <1.3 wt.%). All the analysed garnets are Ca-rich (>4.5 wt.% CaO) and all fall in the lherzolite field defined by Sobolev et al., 1973. The low-Ca garnets which appear in many diamond-bearing kimberlites have never been observed in Zaire, neither in the diamond-poor Kundelungu pipes nor in the diamond-rich Mbuji-Mayi pipes. The ilmenites define a trend close to the ‘magmatic Mg-enrichment trend';. The olivine macrocrysts have Fo contents comparable to those of peridotites (Fo90–93). The ultramafic nodules comprise lherzolites, harzburgites, pyroxenites, wehrlites and dunites. The granular textures and P-T equilibrium conditions (770–1380°C and 28–61 kbar) deduced from their mineral compositions, show clearly that they were derived from a mantle zone on the continental geotherm (90–190 km depth). The eclogite nodules, which are less frequent, contain only two mineral phases (pyrope-almandine-grossular and omphacite), and the texture and the mineral compositions are similar to those of Roberts Victor eclogites. Our findings support the conclusion of Nixon and Condliffe (1989) that low-T peridotites, eclogites and pyroxenites derived from ‘depleted’ lithosphere, while Cr-poor garnet, subcalcic diopside and bronzite megacrysts cristallized from fertile asthenosphere.

Screes on high serpentinite sea cliffs in Shetland have been internally cemented by deposits of brucite, hydromagnesite and aragonite since the last glaciation. These minerals have been deposited from solutions originating as rain (often contaminated with salt spray), which fell on the serpentinite screes and dissolved Mg and minor amounts of Ca from the more finely divided and powdery scree components. As the solutions filtered down through the screes they deposited cements in the form of spherulitic layers of brucite and hydromagnesite with minor amounts of aragonite. At sea level the Mg-rich solutions mingled with sea water impregnating the scree and there cementation within the scree took place by the crystallization of plush-type layers of aragonite on the serpentinite fragments.