Crystal structure and crystal chemistry of fluorannite and its relationships to annite

Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on the crystal-chemical characterization of fluorannite from the Katugin Ta-Nb deposit, Chitinskaya Oblast’, Kalar Range, Transbaikalia, eastern Siberia, Russia. The chemical formula of this mineral is (K0.960Na0.020Ba0.001)(Fe2+2.102Fe3+0.425Cr3+0.002Mg0.039Li0.085Ti0.210Mn0.057)(Al0.674Si3.326) O10(F1.060OH0.028O0.912). This mica belongs to the 1M polytype (space group C2/m) with layer parameters a = 5.3454(2) Å, b = 9.2607(4) Å, c = 10.2040(5) Å, b = 100.169(3)º. Structure refinement, using anisotropic displacement parameters, converged at R = 0.0384. When compared to annite, fluorannite shows a smaller cell volume (Vfluorannite = 497.19 Å3; Vannite = 505.71 Å3), because of its smaller lateral dimensions and c parameter. Flattening in the plane of the tetrahedral basal oxygen atoms decreases with F content, together with the A–O4 distance (i.e. the distance between interlayer cation A and the octahedral anionic position) due to the reduced repulsion between the interlayer cation and the anion sited in O4.