DOI

  • Igor V. Pekov
  • Natalia V. Zubkova
  • Ilya I. Chaikovskiy
  • Elena P. Chirkova
  • Dmitry I. Belakovskiy
  • Vasiliy O. Yapaskurt
  • Yana V. Bychkova
  • Inna Lykova
  • Sergey N. Britvin
  • Dmitry Yu Pushcharovsky

A new mineral, krasnoshteinite (Al8 [B2 O4 (OH)2 ](OH)16 Cl4·7H2 O), was found in the Verkhnekamskoe potassium salt deposit, Perm Krai, Western Urals, Russia. It occurs as transparent colourless tabular to lamellar crystals embedded up to 0.06 × 0.25 × 0.3 mm in halite-carnallite rock and is associated with dritsite, dolomite, magnesite, quartz, baryte, kaolinite, potassic feldspar, congolite, members of the goyazite–woodhouseite series, fluorite, hematite, and anatase. Dmeas = 2.11 (1) and Dcalc = 2.115 g/cm3 . Krasnoshteinite is optically biaxial (+), α = 1.563 (2), β = 1.565 (2), γ = 1.574 (2), and 2Vmeas = 50 (10) . The chemical composition (wt.%; by combination of electron microprobe and ICP-MS; H2 O calculated from structure data) is: B2 O3 8.15, Al2 O3 46.27, SiO2 0.06, Cl 15.48, H2 Ocalc. 33.74, –O=Cl –3.50, totalling 100.20. The empirical formula calculated based on O + Cl = 33 apfu is (Al7.87 Si0.01 )Σ7.88 [B2.03 O4 (OH)2 ][(OH)15.74 (H2 O)0.26 ]Σ16 [(Cl3.79 (OH)0.21 ]Σ4·7H2 O. The mineral is monoclinic, P21, a = 8.73980 (19), b = 14.4129 (3), c = 11.3060 (3) Å, β = 106.665 (2), V = 1364.35 (5) Å3, and Z = 2. The crystal structure of krasnoshteinite (solved using single-crystal data, R1 = 0.0557) is unique. It is based upon corrugated layers of Al-centered octahedra connected via common vertices. BO3 triangles and BO2 (OH)2 tetrahedra share a common vertex, forming insular [B2 O4 (OH)2]4− groups (this is a novel borate polyanion) which are connected with Al-centered octahedra via common vertices to form the aluminoborate pseudo-framework. The structure is microporous, zeolite-like, with a three-dimensional system of wide channels containing Cl- anions and weakly bonded H2 O molecules. The mineral is named in honour of the Russian mining engineer and scientist Arkadiy Evgenievich Krasnoshtein (1937–2009). The differences in crystal chemistry and properties between high-temperature and low-temperature natural Al borates are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number301
Number of pages14
JournalCrystals
Volume10
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Apr 2020

    Research areas

  • Crystal structure, Evaporitic salt rock, Hydrous aluminum chloroborate, Krasnoshteinite, Microporous crystalline material, New mineral, Perm Krai, Verkhnekamskoe potassium salt deposit, Zeolite-like borate

    Scopus subject areas

  • Chemical Engineering(all)
  • Materials Science(all)
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Inorganic Chemistry

ID: 53286035