Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T03:38:12.050Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Barlowite, Cu4FBr(OH)6, a new mineral isotructural with claringbullite: description and crystal structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Peter Elliott ,
Mark A. Cooper  and
Allan Pring
Peter Elliott*
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
Mark A. Cooper
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada
Allan Pring
Affiliation:
South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
*
* E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The new mineral species barlowite, ideally Cu4FBr(OH)6, has been found at the Great Australia mine, Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It is the Br and F analogue of claringbullite. Barlowite forms thin blue, platy, hexagonal crystals up to 0.5 mm wide in a cuprite-quartz-goethite matrix associated with gerhardtite and brochantite. Crystals are transparent to translucent with a vitreous lustre. The streak is sky blue. The Mohs hardness is 2–2.5. The tenacity is brittle, the fracture is irregular and there is one perfect cleavage on {001}. Density could not be measured; the mineral sinks in the heaviest liquid available, diluted Clerici solution (D &3.8 g/cm3). The density calculated from the empirical formula is 4.21 g/cm3. Crystals are readily soluble in cold dilute HCl. The mineral is optically non-pleochroic and uniaxial (–). The following optical constants measured in white light vary slightly suggesting a small variation in the proportions of F, Cl and Br: ω 1.840(4)–1.845(4) and ε 1.833(4)–1.840(4). The empirical formula, calculated on the basis of 18 oxygen atoms and H2O calculated to achieve 8 anions and charge balance, is Cu4.00F1.11Br0.95Cl0.09(OH)5.85. Barlowite is hexagonal, space group P63/mmc, a = 6.6786(2), c = 9.2744(3) Å , V = 358.251(19) Å3, Z = 2. The five strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern are [d(Å )(I)(hkl)]: 5.790(100)(010); 2.889(40)(020); 2.707(55)(112); 2.452(40)(022); 1.668(30)(220).

Keywords

barlowitenew mineral speciescopper bromide fluoridecrystal structureGreat Australia mine
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 78 , Issue 7 , December 2014 , pp. 1755 - 1762
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blake, D.H. (1987) Geology of the Mt Isa Inlier and Environs. Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources Bulletin, 225, 83 pp. Brese, N.E. and O’Keeffe, M. (1991) Bond-valence parameters for solids. Acta Crystallographica, B47, 192–197.Google Scholar
Brown, I.D. (2009) Accumulated table of bond-valence parameters (bvparm2009.cif). Downloaded from http://www.ccp14.ac.uk/ccp/web-mirrors / i_d_brown/bond_valence_param/bvparm2009.cif. Accessed on 10 May 2010.Google Scholar
Burns, P.C. and Hawthorne, F.C. (1995a) Mixed-ligand Cu2+f6 octahedra in minerals: observed stereochemistry and Hartree–Fock calculations. The Canadian Mineralogist, 33, 1177–1188.Google Scholar
Burns, P.C., Cooper, M.A. and Hawthorne, F.C. (1995b) Claringbullite: a Cu2+ oxysalt with Cu2+ in trigonalprismatic coordination. The Canadian Mineralogist, 33, 633–639.Google Scholar
Burns, P.C. and Hawthorne, F.C. (1996) Static and dynamic Jahn-Teller effects in Cu2+ oxysalts. The Canadian Mineralogist, 34, 1089–1105.Google Scholar
Cannell, J. and Davidson, G.J. (1998) A carbonatedominated copper-cobalt breccia-vein system at the Great Australia deposit, Mount Isa Eastern Succession. Economic Geology, 93, 1406–1421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, E.K., Brooks, J.H. and Walker, K.R. (1961) The Precambrian mineral belt of northwest Queensland. Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources Bulletin, 51, 344 pp.Google Scholar
Colchester, D.M., Leverett, P., McKinnon, A.R., Sharpe, J.L. and Williams, P.A. (2007) Cloncurryite,Cu0.56 (VO)0.44Al2(PO4)2(F,OH)2·5H2O, a new mineral from the Great Australia mine, Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia, and its relationship to nevadaite, Australian Journal of Mineralogy, 13, 5–14.Google Scholar
Day, B.E. and Beyer, B. (1995) Some mines of the Mt Isa District – Part 1: The great Australia mine. Australian Journal of Mineralogy, 1, 23–28.Google Scholar
Eby, R.K. and Hawthorne, F.C. (1993) Structural relationships in copper oxysalt minerals. I. Structural hierarchy. Acta Crystallographica, B49, 28–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fejer, E.E., Clark, A.M., Couper, A.G. and Elliott, C.J. (1977) Claringbullite, a new hydrated copper chloride. Mineralogical Magazine, 41, 433–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, P. (1984) The Cloncurry Story: A Short History of the Cloncurry District. Cloncurry Shire Council, Queensland, Australia, 169 pp.Google Scholar
Hawthorne, F.C. and Schindler, M.S. (2000) Topological enumeration of decorated [Cu2+f2]N sheets in hydroxy-hydrated copper-oxysalt minerals. The Canadian Mineralogist, 38S, 751–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawthorne, F.C. and Sokolova, E.S. (2002) Simonkolleite, Zn5(OH)8Cl2(H2O), a decorated interrupted-sheet structure of the form (Mf2)4. The Canadian Mineralogist, 40, 939–946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbs, D.E., Leverett, P. and Williams, P.A. (2003) Connellite-buttgenbachite from the Great Australia mine, Cloncurry: a crystal structural formula. Australian Journal of Mineralogy, 9, 39–42.Google Scholar
Hunter, B.A. (1998) Rietica – A Visual Rietveld Program. Commission on Powder Diffraction Newsletter, 20, 21.Google Scholar
Jahn, H.A. and Teller, E. (1937) Stability of polyatomic molecules in degenerate electronic states. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A, 161, 220–236.Google Scholar
Le Bail, A., Duroy, H. and Fourquet, J.L. (1988) Abinitio structure determination of LiSbWO6 by X-ray powder diffraction. Materials Research Bulletin, 23, 447–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandarino, J.A. (1981) The Gladstone-Dale relationship: Part IV: The compatibility concept and its application. The Canadian Mineralogist, 19, 441–450.Google Scholar
Pauling, L. (1994) Early structural coordination chemistry. Pp. 69–72. in: Coordination Chemistry: A Century of Progress (George B. Kauffman, editor). ACS Symposium Series, 565. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pope, W.J. (1935) Obituary Notices: William Barlow, 1845–1934. Journal of the Chemical Society (London), 1328–1330.Google Scholar
Pouchou, J.L. and Pichoir, F. (1985) ‘PAP’ (jrZ) procedure for improved quantitative microanalysis. Pp. 104–106. in: Microbeam Analysis (J.T. Armstrong, editor). San Francisco Press, San Francisco, USA.Google Scholar
Shape Software (1997) ATOMS for Windows and Macintosh V 4.0. Kingsport, Tennessee USA.Google Scholar
Sharpe, J.L. and Williams, P.A. (1999) Nantokite, a major new occurrence, and data on its stability relationships. Australian Journal of Mineralogy, 5, 77–81.Google Scholar
Sheldrick, G.M. (1997) SHELX-97: Program for the solution and refinement of crystal structures. Siemens Energy and Automation, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.Google Scholar
Sheldrick, G.M. (1998) SADABS User Guide. University of Göttingen, Germany.Google Scholar
Wallace, M.E. and Pring, A. (1990) Gerhardtite, a copper hydroxy-nitrate from the Great Australia mine, Cloncurry, Queensland. Australian Mineralogist, 5, 51–54.Google Scholar
Williams, P.A. (1990) Oxide Zone Geochemistry. Ellis Horwood, New York, USA, 286 pp.Google Scholar