Original paper

Shulamitite Ca3TiFe3+ AlO8 - a new perovskite-related mineral from Hatrurim Basin, Israel

Sharygin, Victor V.; Lazic, Biljana; Armbruster, Thomas M.; Murashko, Mikhail N.; Wirth, Richard; Galuskina, Irina O.; Galuskin, Evgeny V.; Vapnik, Yevgeny; Britvin, Sergey N.; Logvinova, Alla M.

Abstract

Shulamitite, ideally Ca3TiFe3+AlO8, is a mineral intermediate between perovskite CaTiO3 and brownmillerite Ca2(Fe,Al)2O5. It was discovered as a major mineral in a high-temperature larnite-mayenite rock from the Hatrurim Basin, Israel. Shulamitite is associated with larnite, F-rich mayenite, Cr-containing spinel, ye'elimite, fluorapatite, and magnesioferrite, and retrograde phases (portlandite, hematite, hillebrandite, afwillite, foshagite and katoite). The mineral forms reddish brown subhedral grains or prismatic platelets up to 200 μm and intergrowths up to 500 μm. The empirical formula of the holotype shulamitite (mean of 73 analyses) is (Ca2.992Sr0.007LREE0.007)(Ti0.981Zr0.014Nb0.001)(Fe3+0.947Mg0.022Cr0.012Fe2+0.012Mn0.001)(Al0.658Fe3+0.288Si0.054)O8. The X-ray diffraction powder-pattern (MoKα-radiation) shows the strongest lines {d [Å ](Iobs)} at: 2.677(100), 2.755(40), 1.940(40), 11.12(19), 1.585(17), 1.842(16), 1.559(16), 3.89 (13), 1.527(13). The unit-cell parameters and space group are: a = 5.4200(6), b = 11.064(1), c = 5.5383(7) Å, V = 332.12(1) Å3, Pmma, Z = 2. The calculated density is 3.84 g/cm3. The crystal structure of shulamitite has been refined from X-ray single-crystal data to R1 = 0.029 %. No partitioning among octahedral sites was found for Ti and Fe3+ in the structure of shulamitite, these cations are randomly distributed among all octahedra indicating an example of “valency-imposed double site occupancy“. The strong bands in the Raman spectrum of shulamitite are at: 238, 250, 388, 561, and 742 cm-1. Shulamitite from the Hatrurim Basin crystallized under combustion metamorphism conditions characterized by very high temperatures (1150-1170 °C) and low pressures (high-T-region of the spurrite-merwinite facies). Chemical data for shulamitite and its Fe-analog from other metacarbonate occurrences (natural and anthropogenic) are given here.

Keywords

shulamititeca3tife2o8new mineralperovskitebrownmilleritecrystal structureraman spectroscopyhatrurim formationisrael