A new method to measure thermal diffusivity in samples at simultaneous high pressure and high temperature is presented. The sample is placed inside a cylindrical heater and subjected to a heater power that varies sinusoidally with time. The diffusion of the temperature variations into the sample is monitored using radiographic imaging of marker foils. This provides measurements of the phase lag and amplitude variation of the temperature cycle at a range of radii from the sample axis without the need for multiple thermocouples. The technique is tested using a NaCl sample at 4 GPa; the best-fit thermal diffusivity for NaCl at 4 GPa and 673 K is 2.4±0.5x10-6 m2/s.

Two sediment cores retrieved at the northern slope of Sakhalin Island, Sea of Okhotsk, were analysed for biogenic opal, organic carbon, carbonate, sulphur, major element concentrations, mineral contents and dissolved substances including nutrients, sulphate, methane, major cations, humic substances and total alkalinity. Down-core trends in mineral abundance suggest that plagioclase feldspars and other reactive silicate phases (olivine, pyroxene, volcanic ash) are transformed into smectite in the methanogenic sediment sections. The element ratios Na/Al, Mg/Al and Ca/Al in the solid phase decrease with sediment depth indicating a loss of mobile cations with depth and producing a significant down-core increase in the chemical index of alteration.

Calcium carbonate forms three polymorphic minerals that are found in a variety of environments at the Earth’s surface. Other compounds in the aqueous system can inhibit or enhance the probability of one phase or another, favour growth of specific crystal faces, and change the rate of recrystallization. Control of crystal systems requires understanding of the relationships between the foreign agent and the CaCO3 mineral surface. This work, which examines the transformation of vaterite to calcite, is part of a larger project that aims to define some of the parameters that control calcite recrystallization and grain coarsening.

Sodic-calcic and alkali amphiboles from benmoreitic members of the Igaliko Dyke Swarm contain up to 4.13 wt. % ZrO2. It is proposed that Zr enters the amphiboles by a coupled substitution of

(where C = octahedral site and T = tetrahedral site) to produce the richest Zr-bearing amphiboles so far identified, with compositions ranging up to

These amphiboles crystallize at a late stage from magmas which were Zr-rich, highly peralkaline and hydrous, with an fo2 close to the synthetic QMF buffer. The incorporation of Zr in to the amphibole is a consequence of the failure of other Zr-bearing phases (such as zircon, baddeleyite, eudialyte) to crystallize.

Short-range order in the oxygen co-ordination shell of the Ca ion in a glass of composition Ca3Mg4Al2Si7O24 is investigated by analysis of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure. The estimate of disorder in the short-range oxygen co-ordination is no greater than that for crystalline samples of diopside and bytownite. An estimate of the oxygen environment of calcium in the particular glass is included.

Non-stoichiometric, carbon-containing crandallite from Guatemala and plumbogummite from Cumbria have been characterized using electron microprobe (EMPA) and wet-chemical analyses, Rietveld analysis of powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns, and infrared (IR), Raman and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopies. The samples contain 11.0 and 4.8 wt.% CO2, respectively. The IR spectra for both samples show a doublet in the range 1410–1470 cm–1, corresponding to CO3 vibrations. Direct confirmation of CO3 replacing PO4 was obtained from difference Fourier maps in the Rietveld analysis. Carbonate accounts for 67% of the C in the plumbogummite and 20% of the C in the Guatemalan crandallite, the remainder being present as nano-scale organic carbon. The CO3 substitution for PO4 is manifested in a large contraction of the tetrahedral volume (14–19%) and by a contraction of the a axis, analogous to observations for carbonate-containing fluorapatites. Stoichiometric crandallite from Utah was characterized using the same methods, for comparison with the non-stoichiometric, carbon-bearing phases.

Several bodies of moderately foliated and porphyroblastic metabasites crop out on the SE side of the metamorphic cover of the Karkonosze granite within metapelites of the Sowia Dolina area (West Sudetes, Saxothuringian zone). Depending on the microstructural setting of the Ca-amphiboles in the rocks, different mineral-chemical trends have been determined for Si, XMg, AlVI, A[Na+K] which serve as semi-quantitative indicators of temperature and pressure changes. Porphyroblasts and prisms oblique to the main foliation in schistose metabasites show zoning from Mg-hornblende and actinolite to tschermakite, and then to Mg-hornblende (or actinolite). Matrix amphiboles and those in pressure shadows around some porphyroblasts have tschermakitic cores and actinolitic rims. Rarely, Ca-amphibole is accompanied in schists by late- to post-tectonic cummingtonite. Thermobarometric calculations involving empirically calibrated amphibole equilibria enable a reconstruction of P-T paths for individual rocks and the unravelling of the metamorphic evolution of the metabasites. Peak metamorphic temperatures of 615–640°C and pressures of 7.3–8.2 kbar were preceded by a variably preserved earlier stage (T = 370–550°C, P = 2.8–6.2 kbar). The final metamorphic episode took place at 450–550°C and 2.5–4.8 kbar and is recorded particularly in rocks close to the Karkonosze pluton. The metabasites shed new light on the history of metamorphism in the Sowia Dolina area. The first two stages of MP-MT metamorphism, coeval with Variscan deformation events (continental collision, burial and subsequent exhumation), took place under epidote-amphibolite then amphibolite facies conditions. The last stage partly concurred with the final stages of Variscan deformation and overlapped the onset of thermal activity associated with the Karkonosze granite. This metamorphic event is documented by metabasites (occasionally cummingtonite-bearing) outcropping close to the granite. Finally, a prehnitebearing assemblage reflects retrograde re-equilibration under greenschist/sub-greenschist facies conditions (T <300–350°C, P <2.5–3 kbar), which might also be partly due to hydrothermal activity around the pluton.

The separation of iron-titanium oxide droplets and the formation of olivine, in the Freetown layered gabbro, depleted the magma in iron and enriched the magma in copper. In magma injections in which the sulphur fugacity was sufficiently high, this resulted in the separation of immiscible copper sulphide droplets closely associated with the iron-titanium oxide droplets, and both were subsequently enclosed by olivine. A lower sulphur fugacity in other injections of magma suppressed the separation of the copper, which later appeared as native copper associated with euhedral titanomagnetite, and was enclosed by feldspar. Crystallization of the iron-titanium oxide droplets and subsolidus diffusion has resulted in granular exsolution of ilmenite from the droplets and lamellar exsolution of ilmenite in the euhedral titanomagnetite.

Kleberite, ideally Fe3+Ti6O11(OH)5, is a new mineral (IMA 2012-023) from Tertiary sands at Königshain, Saxony, northeast Germany. It is also found in heavy mineral sands from the Murray Basin, southeast Australia and at Kalimantan, Indonesia. It occurs as rounded anhedral to euhedral translucent grains, 0.04 0.3 mm across, which are generally red-brown, but grade to orange with decreasing iron content. Associated minerals include ilmenite, pseudorutile, 'leucoxene', tourmaline and spinel. The density measured by pycnometry is 3.28 g cm-3, which is lower than the calculated density of 3.91 g cm-3, due to intragrain porosity which is not penetrated by the immersion fluid. The intragrain pores, of median diameter 18 nm, are partially filled with impurity phases including kaolinite, diaspore and quartz. Kleberite grains have a uniaxial (–) character, but localized regions are weakly biaxial (–) with 2V close to zero. The mean refractive index, calculated from reflectance measurements, is 2.16(3). The mean empirical formula from electron-microprobe analyses of 15 Königshain kleberite grains is Fe3+1.01Mg0.06Ti6O11.2(OH)4.8[Al0.59Si0.31P0.04O1.60·1.8H2O], where the formula element in square brackets represents impurities in the pores. Kleberite forms over a compositional range with [Ti]/[Fe + Ti] atomic ratios from 0.8–0.9. It has monoclinic symmetry, P21/c, with a = 7.537(1), b = 4.5795(4), c = 9.885(1) Å , β = 131.02(1)°. The six strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern [listed as d in Å (I)] are as follows: 1.676(100), 2.170(82), 2.466(27), 1.423(22), 3.933(8), 2.764(9). The structure was refined by the Rietveld method on powder XRD data to Rp = 6.3, Rwp = 8.1, RB = 4.0. Kleberite is isostructural with tivanite; their structural formulae are [Ti4+3□][Ti4+3Fe3+]O11 (OH)5 and [Ti4+4][V3+4]O12(OH)4, respectively. Kleberite has dominant Ti4+ in place of V3+ in the M(2) metal-atom site. The related mineral pseudorutile, [Ti4][(Fe3+,Ti)4](O,OH)16, with Fe3+ > Ti4+ has dominant Fe3+ in this site. Kleberite grains from different localities commonly contain residual MgO-rich ferrian ilmenite. The chemical and physical relationships between the ilmenite and coexisting kleberite are used to evaluate different alteration mechanisms involving selective leaching of divalent oxides from ilmenite and pseudomorphic replacement reactions, respectively.

Ca- and Na-rich pyroxene compositions of four agpaitic phonolites from the Cantal Volcano (France) have been studied. The pyroxenes from each sample show a range of compositions between X2+ pyroxencs (with X = Ca, Mg, Fe2+) and aegirine. The main substitution, X2+ by (Fe3+ + Na+), occurs when Na-Mg = 0.5, by which time Si is already equal to 2.0. The crystallization of Fe-Na-rich pyroxenes seems to be related to the increasing peralkalinity of the environment, in which the initially high temperature was suddenly reduced. Other factors, such as the structure of the liquid, are also considered.

The vicinity of the 490 Ma Cashel gabbroic intrusion experienced pressures of about 4.05 ± 0.2 kbar and temperatures in excess of 850 °C. These conditions caused intense hornfelsing and partial melting of the surrounding Dalradian metasediments. From the study of the progressively changed composition of the aureole hornfelses it is deduced that elements were fractionated into the melts as follows: Si>K>Na>Ca>Mn>Al>Fe>Mg and Rb>Ba>Sr>Ga>Cr,Ni,Co. This order of fractionation, which is the opposite to that in magmatic crystallization, provides a detailed picture of the mode of interaction between a mantle derived basic magma and mid-crustal rocks, illustrating how one type of S-type granite can be produced. The rare earth elements (REE) were both removed and fractionated but Eu largely remained in the crystal fractions giving increasing positive Eu anomalies with rising partial melting and these trends can be explained by the extraction of a granitic melt from the hornfelses. Fission track mapping of U is used to study the behaviour of U within the aureole and the metamorphic recrystallization of detrital brown zircon to pink new zircon. The S-type Cashel microgranite sill is shown to have been derived by anatexis from the Dalradian rocks, to have preserved the Sr isotope ratios of the metasediments at 490 Ma, and not to be of the same composition as the leucosomes in the metasediments.

Eight samples (seven volcanic rocks and one quartz sandstone) have been dredged from the Funk Seamount, 60 km NW of Marion Island in the southwest Indian Ocean (lat. 46° 15′S, long. 37° 20′ E). The volcanic rocks are fine-grained vesicular basanitoids and glass-rich volcanic breccias geochemically similar to the Marion Island lavas. Lavas and breccias contain a suite of megacryst minerals and of small polymineralic xenoliths, in both of which kaersutite is a prominent constituent.

The megacryst suite comprises large unzoned single grains of kaersutite, plagioclase, pyroxene, magnetite and ilmenite, all showing textural evidence of resorption/reaction with the basanitoid host. The megacrysts have a limited range of compositions except for the plagioclase which ranges from oligoclase to labradorite.

The small (2 mm to ∼ 3 cm) xenoliths are mostly two-pyroxene amphibole assemblages with or without olivine, magnetite, ilmenite, plagioclase and apatite. The xenoliths show some evidence of reaction with the basanitoid host and most have undergone recrystallization and/or localised decompression melting.

Xenolith and megacryst assemblages are interpreted as being associated with the formation and partial crystallization of a hydrous basanitoid melt at depth.

Physical, crystal-chemical and absorption spectroscopical properties of blue tourmalines from a new occurrence in the State of Paraiba, Brazil, are described. Refractive indices, birefringence and specific gravity have been determined as ne = 1.615–1.620, no = 1.632–1.640, Δn=−0.017 to −0.020 and 3.04–3.07g/cm3. Microprobe analyses proved the samples to be elbaites, which are relatively Mn-rich and contain 2.1 wt. % CuO and 0.5 wt. % Bi2O3. Lattice constants are ao = 15.854(4) and co = 7.102(1) Å. The blue colour is due to pleochroic absorption bands of Cu2+ and Mn3+ with maxima at 700 and 520 nm respectively.

The Silbergrube Aplite (SA) in the Hagendorf-Pleystein Pegmatite District, near Waidhaus, Germany, is a mildly peraluminous NW-SE directed leucogranite dyke. It occurs in association with quartz dykes and aplitic metamorphic mobilizates in the NE Bavarian crystalline basement. The SA differs from other aplitic mobilizates in the region in having a less well developed strain-related mineral orientation and in containing only minor amounts of garnet and tourmaline. The aplitic metamorphic mobilizates and the SA are chemically and mmeralogically almost identical and yield the same age of formation of ∼302 Ma (stage I). The age of formation of the Hagendorf pegmatites seemingly post-dates the emplacement of the SA. The SA was emplaced at the boundary between fine-grained biotite granites and metamorphic country rocks within a zone of structural weakness, favouring the formation of disseminated late magmatic to hydrothermal mineralization of Li-bearing Fe-Mn phosphates (stages II and III). Brittle deformation along this zone was conducive to the faultbound Fe-Mn-Ca phosphates. Mineral telescoping is evident from the presence of Fe2+, Fe3+ and Mn2+ phosphates in fissures and vugs in a texturally highly variable host-rock environment (stage IV). This intimate intergrowth of phosphate minerals reflects contrasting physical and chemical conditions prevailing in a near-surface/ shallow epithermal S-deficient phosphate system (stage IV), similar to what is known from Cu-Au epithermal systems. The most recent mineral assemblages that formed under predominantly oxidizing conditions are correlated with the subtropical weathering during the Neogene which resulted in the formation of a peneplain truncating the SA and its country rocks (stage V). The SA is the root zone of the felsic aplitic-pegmatitic mobilizates in this region and is overprinted by an epithermal phosphate system.

Gypsum evaporites are forming under desiccating conditions in relict cave passages in Mynydd Llangattwg, south Wales. Sulphur isotope compositions of these sulphates indicate that oxidation of diagenetic pyrite in the overlying Millstone Grit is the source of sulphate solutions, rather than dissolution of evaporitic sulphate in the limestones.

Embreyite is a new mineral that has been found only in old specimens collected at Berezov, Siberia. The composition is Pb4·97(CrO4)2·00(PO4)1·91.0·75H2O, or Pb5(CrO4)2(PO4)2. H2O based on both wet and electron-probe analyses. Z = I, Dmeas 6·45, Deale 6·41. Crystals are monoclinic with a 9·755 Å, b 5·636, c 7·135, β 103°5′ the space group may be P21/m. No single crystals were found. α = 2·20, β = γ = 2·36. Colour in various shades of orange with a yellow streak. H = 3½; no cleavages observed. Occurs with vauquelinite, crocoite, and phoenicochroite in the oxide zone assemblage from Berezov.

A new mineral species of the pyrochlore supergroup, hydroxyplumbopyrochlore (IMA2018-145), (Pb1.5,□0.5)Nb2O6(OH), has been discovered in the Jabal Sayid peralkaline granitic complex of the Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia. It is associated with quartz, microcline, ‘biotite’, rutile, zircon, calcite, rhodochrosite, columbite-(Fe), goethite, thorite, bastnäsite-(Ce), xenotime-(Y), samarskite-(Y), euxenite-(Y), hydropyrochlore and fluornatropyrochlore. Hydroxyplumbopyrochlore usually shows euhedral octahedra, slightly rhombic dodecahedra and cubes or their combination (0.01–0.06 mm). The mineral is pale yellow to pale brown, transparent with white streak, and has adamantine to transparent lustre. It is brittle with conchoidal fracture. No cleavage or parting are observed. It is isotropic and non-fluorescent. The average microhardness is 463.4 kg mm–2. The calculated density is 6.474 g cm–3.

Hydroxyplumbopyrochlore belongs to the cubic crystal system and exhibits the space group Fd$\bar{3}$m with unit-cell parameters a = 10.5456(6) Å, V = 1172.8(2) Å3 and Z = 8. Electron microprobe analysis gave (6-point average composition, wt.%): CaO 0.32, SrO 0.16, FeO 0.17, Ce2O3 0.07, Pr2O3 0.02, PbO 51.69, Nb2O5 40.06, SiO2 0.05, TiO2 1.68, Ta2O5 4.74, H2Ocalc 0.95, total 99.90, yielding the empirical formula (Pb1.34Ca0.03Fe0.01Sr0.01□0.61)Σ2(Nb1.75Ti0.12Ta0.12Si0.01)Σ2O6(OH0.53O0.08□0.39)Σ1, where □ = vacancy. The Raman spectrum of hydroxyplumbopyrochlore contains the characteristic bands of O–H vibrations and no bands for H2O vibrations.

Leucite and pseudoleucite invariably have lower K/Rb ratios and higher K/Sr and K/Ba ratios than the groundmasses of the rocks in which they occur. The distribution of Rb, Sr, and Ba between K-rich minerals (e.g. alkali feldspars) and the liquids from which they crystallize is generally such that Rb is impoverished and Sr and Ba enriched, relative to K, in the crystallizing phase. Leucite shows the opposite relationship and this is attributed to the leucite structure being sensitive to the size and valency of the ions replacing K.