Asbecasite: Crystal Structure Refinement and Crystal Chemistry

Michele Sacerdoti, Gian Carlo Parodi*, Annibale Mottana, Adriana Maras and Giancarlo Della Ventura
Istituto di Mineralogia, Università di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d'Este 32, I-44100 Ferrara, Italy
Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Minéralogie, 61 rue de Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sezione Mineralogico-Cristallografica, Università ‘La Sapienza’, Piazzale A. Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy
*Present address: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Museo di Mineralogia, Università ‘La Sapienza’, Piazale A. Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy.

Abstract: The crystal structure of antimonian asbecasite in an ejectum of hypabyssal origin occurring at Tre Croci near Vetralla, Vico volcanic complex, Roman potassic province, Latium, Italy, has been refined to R = 0.042, and is compared to the original crystal structure determination carried out on the Sb-free asbecasite of hydrothermal metamorphic origin from the type-locality, Cherbandung in Binna valley, Monte Leone nappe, Switzerland. New electron microprobe analyses of samples from both localities demonstrate crystal-chemical features that permit distinction between asbecasites from the two occurrences, so far the only known localities for this mineral.

Keywords: asbecasite • crystal structure • crystal chemistry • Switzerland • Italy

Mineralogical Magazine; June 1993 v. 57; no. 387; p. 315-322; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1993.057.387.14
© 1993, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)