The technique of X-ray absorption microspectroscopy is described, with particular reference to the determination of calcium in a hydrogel formed in minute amounts in cavities in larnite. The method, which is applicable to other elements, enables chemical data to be obtained from selected small areas in a normal petrological thin section.

Evidence is presented for the existence of silicon-oxygen chains up to 1000 Å. in length in melts of CaMgSi2O6 and of LiAISi2O6 at temperatures a little above the melting point.

A small dolerite plug in Glenmore, Ardnamurchan, has metamorphosed and partially vitrified the adjacent Moine arkoses up to a distance of 6 ft. from the contact. Chemical analyses show that the glasses produced by the metamorphism have compositions close to the ternary minimum in the system NaAlSi3O8-KAlSi3O8-SiO2, indicating that they were formed by fractional fusion of a lowest-melting composition from the arkose. Alkali metasomatism in the metamorphosed arkoses resulted in an increase of Na2O and a decrease of K2O as the contact with the dolerite is approached, while an associated pelitic horizon shows an increase of K2O content. A review of other examples of thermal metamorphism of quartzo-feldspathic rocks by basic intrusions shows that movements of alkalis are very common in this type of environment, and the possible relations of the metasomatism and the fusion are discussed.

This list continues the series of 21 published triennially by Dr. L. J. Spencer between 1897 and 1958. Such lists evidently meet a generally-felt need, as they now appear in the American Mineralogist, the Bulletin de la Société française de Minérlogie et de Cristallographie, and the the continuation of Dr. Spencer's series seems desirable since it differs from the others in several respects.

Veins and nodules of cornstone, enclosed in sandstone, have reacted to the thermal influence of a Tertiary dolerite dyke by the development of a wollastonite reaction skarn. This can be shown to have formed as a result of pseudomorphous replacement of the quartz grains by wollastonite, due to outward diffusion of calcium. The process is believed to have taken place at the inversion temperature of quartz (573° C.).

Dickite from a new occurrence at Barkly East, Cape Province, is described and compared with a previously unreported dickite from Postmasburg and a dickite from Ouray, Colorado. The Barkly East dickite crystals are elongated in the direction of the a-axis; the ratio of length to width of crystals varies from 3:1 to 16:1. Optical, electron microscopic, X-ray, and thermal data and a chemical analysis are given. The thermogram of the fraction smaller than 2 µ e.s.d.1 is characterized by a single peak at 600°C., while that of fractions larger than 2 µ e.s.d. shows a double endothermal effect. This two-stage dehydroxylation of dickite on heating is attributed to a particle size effect.

A kinetic analysis is presented of the data of MacKenzie (1957) on the hydrothermal treatment of NaAlSi3O8 under isobaric, isothermal conditions in the temperature range 450° C. to 1000° C.

The analysis indicates the existence of a smeared polymorphic transformation in the temperature range around 600° C. The activation energy for the transformation is about 60 kcal. mole−1 and has been equated with the process of self-diffusion involved in Al-Si ordering in the structure. Some dry-heating experiments and the influence of varying water vapour pressure are discussed.

The crystallographic properties of the hydrated iron oxide obtained by the hydrolysis of FeCl3 are described. The characterizing X-ray powder pattern can be indexed on a tetragonal unit cell with a 10·48 and c 3·023 Å. This cell is shown to contain eight formula units of FeOOH but Cl- or other anions are necessary for the crystallization of the material The structure is that of hollandite or α-MnO2. The unit cell has been confirmed by electron diffraction from single crystals having dimensions about 5000 × 500 × 500 Å. and twinning, which produces hexagonal stars, has been studied. On heating, the structure breaks down and recrystallizes as α-Fe2O2, probably with an intermediate stage involving a spinel phase.

It is shown that petrographic methods, using the microscope and micro-refractometer, can be a valuable aid in the identification of non-metallic inclusions in steel, even when their size is only a small fraction of a millimetre. Special ways of preparing the samples are given, and some of the methods used in examination are indicated. Natural chromite, corundum, merwinite, mutlite, quartz, rhodonite, spincls, and zircon are taken as examples of the minerals found.

Samples of magnetite containing exsolution bodies of ilmenite, or of ulvöspinel and ilmenite, were heated at 1,250–1,300° C. under oxidizing and under reducing conditions.

In the former case, the product consisted of magnetite, ferri-ilmenite, and pseudobrookite. In the latter, loss of oxygen converted a magnetite-ilmenite intergrowth into a homogeneous Fe3O4-Fe2TiO4 spinel solid solution, while a magnetite sample originally carrying ulvöspinel in addition to ilmenite yielded a spinel phase with surprisingly low cell dimension, together with some metallic iron.

A nordmarkite from the Ben Loyal syenite complex has been analysed, in which a powdery yellow mineral occurs in miarolitic cavities. The mineral may be a new hydrated species with a monazite structure and a chemical composition essentially that of monazite but with silicon partly replacing phosphorus and with magnesium, calcium, and iron partly replacing the rare earths.

Pseudomorphs after olivine in Markle basalt from Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, consist of an intimate mixture of hematite and chlorite, along with a small percentage of quartz. A definite relationship exists between the orientations of the two main constituents and is dependent upon their structures.

The paragenesis of a suite of hydrothermal minerals (sulphides, baryte, rhombohedral carbonates, quartz, sericite, and chlorite) at four mines in this district is discussed. Of particular interest are the conversion of pyrrhotine to marcasite, which is shown to take place by loss of iron, the replacement of blende by chlorite, and the possible formation of primary goethite. The occurrence of gudmundite is recorded for the first time in the British Isles.

The following ages determined by the complete lead method have been accepted for minerals from a number of localities: uraninite, Nkana, Northern Rhodesia, 522±15 m.y. ; brannerite, Kansanshi, Northern Rhodesia, 503±15 m.y. ; uraninite, Shinkolobwe, Katanga, 642±20 m.y. ; davidite, Mavuzi, Mozambique, 578±15 m.y.; monazite, Monkey Bay, Nyasaland, 597±25 m.y.; samarskite, north-west Kenya, 635±25 m.y. The significance of the results is briefly considered.

From thermodynamic considerations of the system anorthite-åkermanite it appears that the melts in this system are ionic in nature. The liquidus relation in this system would thus seem to afford confirmation of the theory, based on conductivity measurements, that silicate melts such as molten anorthite dissociate into such ions as Ca2+ and (Al2Si2O8)2−.

Further thermodynamic calculations involving no unreasonable assumption lead to a close reproduction of the experimental liquidus curve of åkermanite. This lends added strength to the belief in the stable existence of åkermanite down to the eutectic; no evidence in support of the claim that åkermanes becomes unstable below 1 325° C. (Osborn and Schairer, 1941) was encountered.

According to Osborn et al. (1954) the presence of substantial Ca2+ increases the desulphurizing potential of blast furnace slag. The thermodynamic treatment of the binary system anorthite-åkermanite leads to the conclusion that both phases dissociate in the molten state and in mutual solution to yield Ca2+; it therefore appears probable that a high concentration of these minerals in the slag would have a salutary effect on the slag chemistry.

Many specimens of plinthite, a species described from Co. Antrim by T. Thomson in 1836 and later from Skye by M. F. Heddle, prove to be mixtures of zeolites and hematite. Both original analyses are those of a ferruginous clay (a mixture of hematite, kaolinite, and montmorillonite). The type specimen (Thomson Collection) is a red clay in the montmorillonite group intimately mixed with hematite and a little analcime.

Existing descriptions of the biaxial ray surface are, in general, misleading. A more accurate description, stressing the simplicity of the surface, is proposed and this is supported by numerous sections drawn through or near the singular points.

Feldspar structures are classified into small-cell (c ≈ 7 Å.) and largecell (c ≈ 14 Å.) types, as a preliminary to a discussion of the nature of substitution disorder, position disorder, and stacking disorder, and of the relations between them. Diffraction effects characteristic of the different types of disorder are considered and related to experimental observation as far as possible.

Previous X-ray observations by J. Lima-de-Faria and P. Gay on the transformation goethite-hematite indicate that in the process of state change at low temperatures, maxima of scattered X-ray intensity occur as satellites to strong and diffuse Bragg maxima due to hematite. These maxima define a repeat distance of about 32 Å. Corresponding satellite maxima have been observed using electron diffraction technique and satellite maxima flanking the direct beam (000) have been used to obtain a direct electron optical image of the disordered state at high magnification. Such photographs show a mainly regular fringe system with spacing of approximately 30 Å. Dislocation patterns were also observed.