The crystal structure of cronstedtite-3T from Kutná Hora (Bohemia, Czechoslovakia), space group P31, was refined to Rw(all) = 3.1% for 1336 independent diffractions. There are two and three independent tetrahedral and octahedral positions, respectively, in this structure. The tetrahedra are occupied by 0.75 Si and 0.25 Fe while the octahedra are uniformly occupied by Fe. The refinement process was hindered by two problems: a “strong” superposition structure (all atoms of the octahedral sheets, i.e., ÷ 70% of the total diffraction power contribute almost solely to the family diffractions with mod(h–k, 3) = 0), and a slight disorder of the investigated crystal. The first problem was resolved by a preliminary block-diagonal refinement procedure where the atoms coinciding in the superposition structure were separated into individual blocks. The second problem was resolved by including two scale factors into the final full-matrix refinement: one for family diffractions, the other for the remaining ones which are characteristic for this polytype.

The crystal structure of cronstedfite-1T was refined in space group P31m, using two crystals: a triangular tabular crystal from Herja, Romania and a conical crystal from Lostwithiel, Cornwall, England. The Herja sample has the composition of (Fe2+2.20Fe3+0.80)(Si1.20Fe3+0.78Al0.02)O5(OH)4 and the Lostwithiel sample has the composition of (Fe2+2.32Fe3+0.68)(Si1.32Fe3+0.66Al0.02)O5(OH)4. The results of refinements are as follows: a = 5.512(1) Å, c = 7.106(1) A, R = 3.07%, and 342 independent reflections; and a = 5.503(1), c = 7.104(1) Å, R = 2.24%, and 335 independent reflections for the Herja and Lostwithiel samples, respectively. The structure consists of one tetrahedral and one octahedral sheet. There is one octahedral site, M1, occupied by Fe only, and one tetrahedral site, T1, occupied by Si and Fe in the ratio of 0.617(8):0.383 (Herja) and 0.699(6):0.301 (Lostwithiel). Positions of two hydrogen atoms were determined from a difference map for the Lostwithiel data. The ditrigonalization angle of the tetrahedral sheet is α = −11.5° (Herja) and α = −11.1° (Lostwithiel), and the structures have a Franzini-layer type of B. The crystals studied are affected by ± b/3 stacking faults which produced slight streaking of h - k ≠ 3n reflections.

The crystal structure of cronstedtite-2H2 was refined in a hexagonal cell, space group P63, Z = 2, using two acicular crystals from Wheal Maudlin, Cornwall, England, and from Pribram, Czech Republic. The Wheal Maudlin sample has the chemical composition $\left({\text{Fe}}_{2.291}^{2+}{\text{Fe}}_{0.709}^{3+}\right)\left({\text{Si}}_{1.298}{\text{Fe}}_{0.707}^{3+}{\text{Al}}_{0.004}\right){\text{O}}_5{\left(\text{OH}\right)}_4$ and the Příbram sample has the composition $\left({\text{Fe}}_{2.269}^{2+}{\text{Fe}}_{0.731}^{3+}\right)\left({\text{Si}}_{1.271}{\text{Fe}}_{0.724}^{3+}{\text{Al}}_{0.005}\right){\text{O}}_5{\left(\text{OH}\right)}_4$. The results of refinements are as follows: a = 5.500(1), c = 14.163(2) Å, V = 371.08(8) Å3, R = 3.83%, from 381 independent reflections, and a = 5.4927(1), c = 14.1481(2) Å, V = 369.70(4) Å3, R = 4.77%, from 1088 independent reflections for the Wheal Maudlin and Příbram samples, respectively. The best Fovs.Fc agreement was achieved when the structure was interpreted as merohedral twin; several possible twinning laws are discussed. The cronstedtite layer consists of one tetrahedral sheet and one octahedral sheet. There is one octahedral (M1) position, occupied by Fe only, and two tetrahedral (T1, T2) positions in the structure. Refinement of occupancy of tetrahedral sites led to values Si:Fe = 0.45:0.55(1) (Wheal Maudlin) and 0.432:0.568(8) (Příbram) in T1, and Si: Fe = 0.99:0.01(1) (Wheal Maudlin) and 0.888:0.112(7) (Příbram) in 72. Whereas the size of T1 is reasonable (average dT1-O = 1.693 Å (Wheal Maudlin), 1.691 Å (Příbram)), T2 is unusually large: (dT2-O= 1.740 Å (Wheal Maudlin), 1.737 Å (Příbram)) with respect to the small or almost zero Fe content. As an explanation, an alternative structure model comprising a certain amount of vacancies in T2 is presented. The tetrahedral rotation angle α is highly positive (+12.1° and +12.5° for the Wheal Maudlin and Příbram samples, respectively), and the layer belongs to the Franzini type A. Distortion parameters of octahedra and tetrahedra are given for both samples. One hydrogen atom engaged in the hydrogen bond was located in the Wheal Maudlin sample.