Whiteite-(CaMnFe), a new jahnsite-group mineral from the Hagendorf-Süd pegmatite, Oberpfalz, Bavaria

Abstract

Whiteite-(CaMnFe), CaMn2+Fe22+Al2(PO4)4(OH)2 ⋅ 8H2O, is a new whiteite-subgroup member of the jahnsite group from the Hagendorf-Süd pegmatite, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. It was found in vugs in an altered feldspar area of a specimen composed predominantly of rockbridgeite, with hureaulite and relic triphylite. Other associated minerals in small vugs in the specimen were strengite and laueite. Whiteite-(CaMnFe) occurs as sprays and clusters of colourless to pale yellow, rod-like crystals, with diameters of typically 10 to 50 µm and lengths up to ∼ 500 µm. The crystals are flattened on {001} and elongated along [010]. The measured density is 2.80(2) g cm−3. Optically, whiteite-(CaMnFe) crystals are biaxial (+), with α=1.608(3), β=1.612(3), γ=1.624(3) and 2V(meas.) = 59(1)∘. The empirical formula from electron microprobe analyses and structure refinement is (Ca0.70Mn0.30)Mn(Fe1.232+Mn0.49Mg0.29Zn0.06)(Al1.88Fe0.123+)(PO4)3.96(OH)2(H2O)8. Whiteite-(CaMnFe) is monoclinic, P2 /a, a=14.925(5), b=7.0100(14), c=10.053(2) Å, β=111.31(2)∘, V=979.9(4) Å3 and Z=2. The crystal structure was refined using single-crystal data to wRobs=0.052 for 1613 reflections with I>3σ(I). Site occupancy refinements confirm the ordering of dominant Ca, Mn and Fe2+ in the X, M1 and M2 sites, respectively, of the general jahnsite-group formula XM1M22M32(H2O)8(OH)2(PO4)4.