• Igor V. Pekov
  • Natalia V. Zubkova
  • Natalia N. Koshlyakova
  • Dmitry I. Belakovskiy
  • Atali A. Agakhanov
  • Marina F. Vigasina
  • Sergey N. Britvin
  • Evgeny G. Sidorov
  • Dmitry Yu Pushcharovsky

Three new borate minerals rhabdoborite-(V), rhabdoborite-(Mo) and rhabdoborite-(W), forming the rhabdoborite group, are found in the Arsenatnaya fumarole, Second scoria cone of the Northern Breakthrough of the Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption, Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Russia. They are closely associated with each other and anhydrite, diopside, hematite, schäferite, berzeliite, svabite, calciojohillerite, ludwigite, forsterite, magnesioferrite, baryte, fluorapatite, udinaite, arsenudinaite, and powellite. Rhabdoborites form long-prismatic to acicular crystals up to 0.04 × 0.04 × 7 mm3 typically combined in aggregates up to 1 cm. They are transparent, light yellow, with vitreous lustre. The empirical formulae of holotypes, calculated based on 26 O + F apfu, are: rhabdoborite-(V): (Mg11.85Fe3+0.11Mn0.06Ca0.02)Σ12.04(V5+0.70Mo6+0.36W6+0.21Te6+0.01)Σ1.28[(P0.35As5+0.16)Σ0.51B5.50]Σ6.01O24.35F1.65; rhabdoborite-(Mo): (Mg11.78Mn0.07Fe3+0.06Ca0.06)Σ11.97(Mo6+0.65V5+0.49W6+0.19)Σ1.33[(P0.31As5+0.14)Σ0.45B5.54]Σ5.99O24.33F1.67; rhabdoborite-(W): (Mg11.74Fe3+0.09Ca0.03Mn0.02)Σ11.88(W6+0.75V5+0.44Mo6+0.13)Σ1.32[(P0.25As5+0.13)Σ0.38B5.65]Σ6.03O24.42F1.58. The simplified formulae are: rhabdoborite-(V): Mg12(V5+,M6+)113O6{(BO3)6–x(PO4)xF2–x} (M6+ = Mo, W and x < 1); rhabdoborite-(Mo): Mg12Mo1136+O6(BO3)6F2; rhabdoborite-(W): Mg12W1136+O6(BO3)6F2. Rhabdoborites are hexagonal, P63, and Z = 1. The unit-cell parameters of rhabdoborite-(V)/rhabdoborite-(Mo)/rhabdoborite-(W) are: a 10.6314(4)/10.6304(3)/10.6366(5), c 4.5661(2)/4.56374(16)/4.5701(3) Å, and V 446.95(3)/446.63(3)/447.78(4) Å3. The crystal structures were solved from single-crystal XRD data, R1 = 0.0413, 0.0289 and 0.0418 for rhabdoborite-(V), rhabdoborite-(Mo) and rhabdoborite-(W), respectively. These isostructural minerals represent a novel structure type. The structure is based on a three-dimensional network (pseudo-framework) built by the (0001) layers formed by clusters Mg6O21F composed by Mg-centred octahedra and linked via BO3 triangles. The distorted octahedra MO6 (M = V5+, Mo6+, W6+) are located in gaps in the layers. The pair of anions, (BO3)3− triangle and adjacent F, is partially substituted by the (P,As5+)O43− tetrahedral anion. Rhabdoborites form a continuous solid-solution system in which contents of V, Mo and W are the main varying values. The rootname rhabdoborite reflects morphological (rhabdos is rod, in Greek) and chemical (borate) features of the minerals; the suffix-(V), -(Mo) or -(W) indicates predominant, species-defining M component.

Original languageEnglish
Article number44 (2020)
Number of pages17
JournalPhysics and Chemistry of Minerals
Volume47
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2020

    Research areas

  • Borate, Crystal structure, Fumarole, New mineral, Pertsevite, Rhabdoborite group, Rhabdoborite-(Mo), Rhabdoborite-(V), Rhabdoborite-(W), Tolbachik volcano

    Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Geochemistry and Petrology

ID: 70067120