Natural and synthetic leucites studied by solid state 29-Si and 27-Al NMR and 57-Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy

The 29-Si NMR spectra of natural and synthetic leucites (KAlSi₂O₆) are found to contain a number of resonances which are interpreted in terms of the known structure of low-temperature (tetragonal) leucite. Computer simulation of the spectra suggests that the most distorted tetrahedral lattice site T ₁ contains a higher proportion of Al than the other two tetrahedral sites. The occurrence of some ordering of the tetrahedral Si and Al in leucite is confirmed by Mossbauer studies of synthetic iron-containing leucites, including the fully ferric end-member KFeSi₂O₆, in which the three tetrahedral sites can be distinguished. On replacement of about half this Fe by Al, the most distorted of these sites is lost from the spectrum, reflecting the preference of Al for this site. A linear relationship is found between the unit cell dimensions of all these leucites and their iron content.     

Si,Al ordering in leucite by high-resolution 27Al MAS NMR spectroscopy

High-resolution ²⁷Al MAS NMR spectra of natural leucite recorded at H ₀=11.7T contain three resolvable resonances at ²⁷Al δ _i = 69.2, 64.7, and 61.0±0.5 ppm. These three resonances are assigned to the three inequivalent framework positions of leucite: T3, T2, and T1, respectively. Fitting the observed spectra yields a Si,Al distribution for leucite in which approximately one-half of the Al is in T1 and one-quarter in each of T2 and T3. This Si,Al distribution differs substantially from those obtained by previous workers using ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. New ²⁹Si NMR spectra and revision of previously reported ²⁹Si NMR peak assignments, however, make the ²⁷Al and ²⁹Si NMR results consistent. The ²⁷Al δ _i correlate linearly with the mean T-O-T′ bond angles of the average structure, which allows the peak assignments to be made. However, this correlation lies distinctly toward higher frequency and larger bond angles than correlations for Si,Al ordered aluminosilicates, suggesting that the mean T(Al)-O-T′(Si) bond angle for each site in leucite is smaller than the mean bond angle of the average structure, which is averaged over T(Al)-O-T′(Si) and T(Si)-OT′(Si,Al) angles.     

Mechanisms and geochemical significance of Si–Al substitution in zeolite solid solutions

Rock-forming zeolites often exhibit complex solid solutions reflecting isomorphous substitutions between Si and Al in tetrahedral framework sites, between charge-balancing extraframework cations, and between water molecules and vacancies. Although the number of moles of charge on extraframework cations in a zeolite must equal the moles of Al in order to maintain charge balance, the relationships between Si–Al and extraframework substitutions vary considerably across this mineral group. Review of available compositional data suggests that there are three main modes of Si–Al substitution in zeolites: 1) coupled CaAl–NaSi substitution; 2) coupled substitution of a single extraframework cation plus Al for Si; and 3) completely uncoupled substitution among extraframework cations and Si and Al on tetrahedral sites. Among zeolites that exhibit the latter two modes of solid solution, Si–Al substitution can be described by an SiO₂ (± H₂O) compositional exchange vector from a hypothetical, pure-silica endmember composition. Recent calorimetric, structural, and theoretical investigations suggest that Si–Al substitution follows a non-ideal, athermal solution model characterized by no excess enthalpies of mixing and negative excess entropies of mixing. Because Si–Al exchange in these minerals can be explicitly or implicitly described by exchange of an SiO₂ component, the Si/Al ratio in their framework can be predicted solely as a function of temperature, pressure, and the chemical potential of SiO₂. Application of this model leads to calculated Si/Al ratios in stilbite (coexisting with albite), analcime, and chabazite consistent with observed mineral compositions and parageneses in very low-grade metamorphic environments. Coexistence of silica polymorphs with zeolites containing SiO₂·nH₂O exchange vectors potentially provides a means of performing thermobarometric calculations in very low-grade metamorphic and diagenetic environments.     

Effect of the Si/Al ordering on structural parameters and the energetic stabilization of vermiculites – a theoretical study

The effect of the Si/Al distribution in the tetrahedral sheets of the vermiculite mineral has been investigated employing density functional theory. The structures of six models for vermiculite with the structural formula (Mg₄)(Mg₁₂)(Si₈Al₈)O₄₀(OH)₈·24(H₂O) per unit cell were fully optimized. The models differ by the T···Mg²⁺···T coordination of the interlayer Mg²⁺ cations by two central cations from the adjacent tetrahedral sheets of the 2:1 vermiculite layers (T,T=Si,Al). We observed the formation of very strong hydrogen bonds between water molecules solvating the interlayer Mg²⁺ cations and the surface basal oxygen atoms of the 2:1 layers. The directionality of hydrogen bonds is the major factor determining the layer stacking in the vermiculite structure. Results showed that the most stable model is that where only silicon atoms in the tetrahedral sheets coordinate all interlayer Mg²⁺ cations.     

Al,Si ordering on cordierite using “magic angle spinning” NMR

Silicon-29 “magic angle spinning” nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been used to study the changes in local Si environment during Al, Si ordering in synthetic cordierite, Mg₂Al₄Si₅O₁₈. In the most disordered form, crystallized from a glass, eight distinct tetrahedral sites for silicon can be identified and assigned, while there are only two distinguishable Si sites in the well-annealed ordered form. This allows the changes in the Si site environments to be determined as a function of annealing time for the transformation from the disordered to the ordered form. The first crystallized state has a considerable degree of partitioning between T₁ and T₂ sites with the following site occupancies: T₁ ? Al:Si=0.80:0.20, T₂?Al:Si=0.27:0.73 The changes in Si environment are approximately linear with log time. The measured values of ²⁹Si isotropic chemical shift do not fit well to previously determined correlations of shift with various structural parameters.     

Structure and properties of fluorine-bearing aluminosilicate melts: the system Na2O-Al2O3-SiO2-F at 1 atm

The chemical interaction between fluorine and highly polymerized sodium aluminosilicate melts [Al/(Al+Si)= 0.125–0.250 on the join NaAlO₂-SiO₂] has been studied with Raman spectroscopy. Fluorine is dissolved to form F^– ions that are electrically neutralized with Na⁺ or Al³⁺. There is no evidence for association of fluorine with either Si⁴⁺ or Al³⁺ in four-fold coordination and no evidence of fluorine in six-fold coordination with Si⁴⁺ in these melt compositions. Upon solution of fluorine nonbridging oxygens are formed and are a part of structural units with nonbridging oxygen per tetrahedral cations (NBO/T) about 2 and 1. The proportions of these two depolymerized units in the melts increase systematically with increasing F/(F+O) at constant Al/(Al+Si) and with decreasing Al/(Al+Si) at constant F/(F+O). Depolymerization (increasing NBO/T) of silicate melts results from a fraction of aluminum and alkalies (in the present study; Na⁺) reacting to form fluoride complexes. In this process an equivalent amount of Na⁺ (orginally required for Al-³⁺charge-balance) or Al³⁺ (originally required Na⁺ to exist in tetrahedral coordination) become network-modifiers.The structural data have been used to develop a method for calculating the viscosity of fluorine-bearing sodium aluminosilicate melts at 1 atm. Where experimental viscosity data are available, the calculated and measured values are within 5% of each other.A method is also suggested by which the liquidus phase equilibria of fluorine-bearing aluminosilicate melts may be predicted. In accord with published experimental data it is suggested, for example, that — on the basis of the determined solubility mechanism of fluorine in aluminosilicate melts — with increasing fluorine content of feldspar-quartz systems, the liquidus boundaries between aluminosilicate minerals (e.g., feldspars) and quartz shift away from silica.     

An NMR study of structure and ordering in synthetic K2MgSi5O12, a leucite analogue

Phases with the composition K₂MgSi₅O₁₂, belonging to the leucite structure group were synthesised under dry and hydrothermal conditions and studied using ²⁹Si NMR. The ²⁹Si spectrum for the dry-crystallised material (which is cubic) consists of a single broad line, suggesting a high degree of disorder. The hydrothermally crystallised material (which is probably monoclinic, with a distorted leucite lattice) has a ²⁹Si spectrum which consists of ten lines of equal intensity, two of which have small chemical shift anisotropies and are therefore assigned to Q⁴(4Si) sites. These data have been interpreted in terms of a structure with 12 distinct tetrahedral sites over which 2 Mg atoms and 10 Si atoms are fully ordered. A 2-dimensional COSY spectrum shows correlations between some Q⁴(3Si) silicon atoms and two other Q⁴(3Si) silicon atoms. This fully constrains the topology of the unit cell. Two schemes of Si/Mg ordering over the unit cell can give good fits to the COSY spectrum. Using the tetrahedral (T) site notation defined for natural tetragonal leucite, the first of these arrangements involves Mg and Q⁴(4Si) silicon atoms each occupying one T1-type site and one T3-type site, and Q⁴(3Si) silicons occupying the remaining sites, i.e. four T2-type sites, two T1-type sites and two T3-type sites. In the second arrangement, the T2-type sites are occupied by Mg atoms and Q⁴(4Si) silicon atoms and all the T1-and T3-type sites are occupied by Q⁴(3Si) atoms.     

Sapphirine II

The crystal structure of aP2₁/a polymorph of sapphirine (a=11.286(3),b=14.438(2),c=9.957(2) Å, β=125.4(2) °) of composition [Mg_3.7Fe _0.1 ²⁺ Al_4.1- Fe _0.1 ³⁺ ]^IV[Si_1.8Al_4.2]^IVO₂₀ was refined using structure factors determined by both neutron and x-ray diffraction methods to conventionalR factors of 0.067 and 0.031. respectively, forF _obs>2σ. The results of the two refinements agree reasonably well, but a half-normal probability plot (Abrahams, 1974) comparing the two data sets indicates that the pooled standard deviations of the atomic coordinates have been underestimated by a factor of two. The structure of sapphirine, solved initially by Moore (1969), consists of cubic closest packed oxygens with octahedral and predominantly tetrahedral layers alternately stacked along [100]. The layer in which 70% of the octahedral sites are occupied has an Mg-Al distribution characterized by Mg-rich octahedra sharing edges mainly with Al-rich octahedra. Mean octahedral bond lengths correlate well with Al occupancy determined by neutron site refinement if the relative number of shared octahedral edges is taken into account (see Table 1). The predominantly tetrahedral layer has 10% of the octahedral sites occupied by Al and 30% of the tetrahedral sites occupied by Al-Si in the ratio 2.33∶1. There are single chains of Al-Si tetrahedra parallel toz with corner-sharing wing tetrahedra (T5 andT6) on either side in the (100) plane. The meanT-O distance is highly correlated with Al occupancy, X_Al, as determined from the neutron site refinement: $$\langle T - O\rangle = 1.656 + 0.105X_{Al} (r^2 = 0.995).$$ Details of the neutron refinement are summarized below.     

Thermodynamics of Al/Al avoidance in the ordering of Al/Si tetrahedral framework structures

The main driving force behind Al/Si ordering in tetrahedral framework aluminosilicates is nearest-neighbour Al/Al avoidance. Computer simulation is used to explore the direct consequences of such Al/Al avoidance. The main result is that the order-disorder transition temperature T _c falls dramatically as the concentration x of Al in the structure is reduced, and if the only interactions are those associated with nearest-neighbour Al/Al avoidance, T _c becomes zero for x less than some critical value x _c , where x _c =0.31 for the feldspar framework and x _c =0.34 for cordierite. Also a large degree of short range order is found above T _c . Both results differ radically from the standard Bragg-Williams model. Plots of entropy and enthalpy of ordering are given as functions of x and T, which may be used to interpret experimental data or for extrapolation into ranges of x and T inaccessible to experiment. Received: 14 May 1997 / Revised, accepted: 2 June 1997     

How stacking disorder can conceal the actual structure of micas: the case of phengites

The present study deals with how stochastic stackings of tetrahedral/octahedral phengitic sheets bearing diverse cation distributions affect diffraction signals and the structural inferences therefrom derived. The interest for such minerals is dictated by that the stability of phengite polytypes, their cation distributions and P/T conditions of crystallization are related to each other. We focus our attention on layers’ probabilistic sequences that preserve the topology of the polytypes 2M ₁(SG: C2/c) and 3T(SG: P3₁12). Neutron diffraction intensities are modelled by a Monte Carlo approach and then used as artificial experimental data for conventional structure refinements that yield the occupancy factors in the fourfold (Si, Al) and sixfold (Al, Mg) coordination sites of 2M ₁ and 3T. The cation ordering from structure refinement tallies with the one of the “average structure” of a stochastic stacking, but it can significantly differ from those of the individual tetrahedral/octahedral sheets. For instance, sheets having ordered cation arrangements can lead to a stochastic structure which is supposed to bear a fully disordered cation partitioning according to structure refinement. This affects the configuration entropy contributions: the values obtained by conventional refinements can deviate from the correct ones up to 30 %. The analysis of the equivalent reflection intensities brings to light the anomalies hinting at the occurrence of such stacking disorder (using modelled reflections, the mean ratio between standard deviation and average intensity of symmetry equivalent reflections is ideally 0 for perfect crystal structures, but it can amount up to 6 in stochastically disordered phengites). However, taking into account the instrumental uncertainties and the deviations from ideality of actual crystals, such phenomena are very difficult to be detected experimentally.     

The tetrahedral framework in glasses and melts — inferences from molecular orbital calculations and implications for structure,thermodynamics, and physical properties

Results of ab initio molecular orbital (MO) calculations provide a basis for the interpretation of structural and thermodynamic properties of crystals, glasses, and melts containing tetrahedrally coordinated Si, Al, and B. Calculated and experimental tetrahedral atom-oxygen (TO) bond lengths are in good agreement and the observed average SiO and AlO bond lengths remain relatively constant in crystalline, glassy, and molten materials. The TOT framework geometry, which determines the major structural features, is governed largely by the local constraints of the strong TO bonds and its major features are modeled well by ab initio calculations on small clusters. Observed bond lengths for non-framework cations are not always in agreement with calculated values, and reasons for this are discussed in the text. The flexibility of SiOSi, SiOAl, and AlOAl angles is in accord with easy glass formation in silicates and aluminosilicates. The stronger constraints on tetrahedral BOB and BOSi angles, as evidenced by much deeper and steeper calculated potential energy versus angle curves, suggest much greater difficulty in substituting tetrahedral B than Al for Si. This is supported by the pattern of immiscibility in borosilicate glasses, although the occurrence of boron in trigonal coordination is an added complication. The limitations on glass formation in oxysulfide and oxynitride systems may be related to the angular requirements of SiSSi and Si(NH)Si groups. Although the SiO and AlO bonds are the strongest ones in silicates and aluminosilicates, they are perturbed by other cations. Increasing perturbation and weakening of the framework occurs with increasing ability of the other atom to compete with Si or Al for bonding to oxygen, that is, with increasing cation field strength. The perturbation of TOT groups, as evidenced by TO bond lengthening predicted by MO calculations and observed in ordered crystalline aluminosilicates, increases in the series Ca, Mg and K, Na, Li. This perturbation correlates strongly with thermochemical mixing properties of glasses in the systems SiO₂-M ₁ ^n/n+ AlO₂ and SiO₂-M ⁿ⁺O _n/2 (M=Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, and Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Pb), with tendencies toward immiscibility in these systems, and with systematics in vibrational spectra. Trends in physical properties, including viscosity at atmospheric and high pressure, can also be correlated.     

X-Ray radial distribution function analysis of acid volcanic glasses from the Eastern Rhodopes,Bulgaria

Five natural acid volcanic glasses (perlites) from the Eastern Rhodope mountains, Bulgaria, have been studied by X-ray diffraction. The quantity of the microlites varies from 1–3.5 weight percent. It is higher in the glasses from the rhyolite-perlite transition zone. Total pair correlation functions have been calculated for three of the glasses with less than 2 weight percent microlites. All total pair correlation functions are quite similar and have six well defined peaks up to 8 Å. Beyond 8 Å they are practically featureless. The general form of the curves and peak positions suggests that the short-range order in all the three glasses is compatible with a 6-membered tetrahedral ring polymerization scheme with some contribution of fourmembered rings. The T-01 (T=Si, Al) distance shows linear correlation with the weight percent ratio Al₂O₃/SiO₂. The averaged first nearest neighbour distances T-01, O-01 and T-T1 are 1.615±0.005 Å, 2.66±0.02 Å and 3.16±0.02 Å, respectively. The mean T-O-T bond angle is 157±4°. Energy minimization and topology considerations of the possible distribution of different tetrahedral rings are discussed.     

On the stability of magmatic cordierite and new thermobarometric equations for cordierite-saturated liquids

In this work, we have reviewed a large compositional dataset (571 analyses) for natural and experimental glasses to understand the physico-chemical and compositional conditions of magmatic cordierite crystallization. Cordierite crystallizes in peraluminous liquids (A/CNK ≥1) at temperatures ≥750 °C, pressures ≤700 MPa, variable H₂O activity (0.1–1.0) and relatively low fO₂ conditions (≤NNO ? 0.5). In addition to A/CNK ratio ≥1, a required condition for cordierite crystallization is a Si + Al cation value of the rhyolite liquid of 4 p8O (i.e. calculated on the 8 oxygen anhydrous basis), which is consistent with low Fe³⁺ contents and the absence or low content of non-bridging oxygens (NBO). This geochemical condition is strongly supported by the rare, if not unique, structure of cordierite where the tetrahedral framework is composed almost exclusively of Si and Al cations the sum of which is equal to 4 p8O [i.e. (Mg,Fe)_8/9Al_16/9Si_20/9O₈], indicating that aluminium (and cordierite) saturation is limited by rhyolite liquids with Al = 4 ? Si. Indeed, synthetic or natural systems with Al > 4 ? Si always show metastable glass-in-glass separation or crystallization of refractory minerals such as corundum (Al_16/3O₈) and aluminosilicates (Al_16/5Si_8/5O₈). Multivariate regression analyses of literature data for experimental glasses coexisting with magmatic cordierite produced two empirical equations to independently calculate the T (±13 °C; ME, maximum error = 29 °C) and P (±16 %; ME% = 27 %) conditions of cordierite saturation. The greatest influence on the two equations is exerted by H₂O_melt and Al concentrations, respectively. Testing of these equations with other thermobarometric constraints (e.g. feldspar-liquid, GASP, Grt–Bt and Grt–Crd equilibria) and thermodynamic models (NCKFMASHTO and NCKFMASH systems) was successfully performed for Crd-bearing rhyolites and residual enclaves from San Vincenzo (Tuscany, Italy), Morococala Field (Bolivia) and El Hoyazo (Spain). The reliability of each calculated P–T pair was graphically evaluated using the minimum and maximum P–T–H₂O relationships for peraluminous rhyolite liquids modified after the metaluminous relationships in this work. Both P–T calculations and checking can be easily performed with the attached user-friendly spreadsheet (i.e. Crd-sat_TB).     

Infrared spectrum and structural role of titanium in synthetic Ti-garnets

Ti-spessartite, Ti-andradite and its indium homolog, Ca₃In₂(Si, Ti)₃O₁₂, have been synthesized and investigated by infrared (ir) spectroscopy. The use of isotopic species (⁴⁶Ti-⁵⁰Ti) gives the unequivocal proof that some of the additional bands observed in the 800–600 cm^?1 region are due to TiO₄ tetrahedra. For Si-Ti replacements up to 10 mol%, the localization of Ti on the available tetrahedral sites depends on the nature of the cations. For the In garnet all (or nearly all) Ti is located on tetrahedral sites; in Ti-andradite Ti is distributed over tetrahedral and octahedral sites, tetrahedral sites being thus occupied, in part by Ti (ir band near 700 cm^?1) and in part by Fe (ir band near 650 cm^?1); and Ti-spessartite the presence of Ti on tetrahedral sites is doubtful, these sites being essentially occupied by Al.     

Structural states of natural potassium feldspar: An infrared spectroscopic study

Natural samples of K-feldspar representing various states of Al, Si order were characterised using X-ray methods, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Line profiles of infrared absorption bands were observed to show strong correlation with the degree of Al, Si order present. In particular, the absorption frequencies of the 540 cm^?1 and 640 cm^?1 bands were seen to vary by ca. 10 cm^?1 between sanidine and microcline, with modulated samples respresenting intermediate behaviour. Linewidths of these modes also decrease by ca. 50% in this series. The experimental results are discussed within the framework of Hard Mode Infrared Spectroscopy (HMIS), and it is shown that the absorption frequencies vary with the short range order parameter τ = (4t₁-1)² and the symmetry breaking order parameter describing Al, Si order, Q _od=(t₁ 0?t₁ m)/Q _od=(t₁ 0+t₁ m), where t₁ is the average Al occupancy on the T₁ sites and t₁ o and t₁ m are the individual site occupancies of the T₁ o and T₁ m sites, respectively. The structural state of orthoclase is characterised by strain-induced modulations with large spatial variations of the modulation wavelength. No such modulations were observed in the degree of local Al, Si order. Sanidine shows mode hardening in excess of the extrapolated effect of symmetry breaking Al, Si order, which is presumably related to nonsymmetry breaking ordering between T₁ and T₂ sites and/or as yet unobserved short range order of the symmetry breaking ordering scheme. The possibility of an additional phase transition in K-feldspar at temperatures above 1300 K is discussed.     

Calculations of activity-composition relations in multi-site solid solutions: the example of AB2O4 spinels

A model to calculate activities in multisite solutions like spinels, from a general expression of the Gibbs free energy is developped. The free energy is written as that of a solution with ideal mixing of cations on each sublattice corrected by any suitable higher order terms. It is shown that activities of i^th end-member can be simply written: $${\text{act (}}i{\text{) = (}}\gamma _i {\text{/}}\gamma _i^{\text{0}} {\text{)}}\mathop \prod \limits_j (N_j /N_j^0 )^{P(j,{\text{ }}i)} .$$ N _j are site occupancy fractions; the γ _i are equal to one for the ideal multisite model and depend only on the higher order corrections to this model; ⁰ indicate values for the i ^th end member. The exponents in the matrix P are integers and constants. The activities cannot be expressed explicitly as function of the macroscopic composition. The site occupancy fractions which minimize the Gibbs free energy must be calculated first solving a set of non linear equations which define the internal equilibrium conditions. The (Fe²⁺, Mg) (Al, Cr, Fe³⁺) spinel are used to illustrate these calculations. For multicomponent AB₂O₄ spinels activity expressions derived for the reference ideal multisite mixing model are: $${\text{act (AB}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{4}} {\text{) = }}\frac{{({\text{A}})[{\text{B}}]^2 }}{{({\text{A}})_0 [{\text{B}}]_0^2 }}$$ (A): fraction of tetrahedral sites occupied by A²⁺; [B]: fraction of octahedral sites occupied by B³⁺. Because the site occupancy fractions at equilibrium are not independent (but related by the internal equilibrium relations) many equivalent expressions of the activities can be obtained. Finally approximations proposed in the literature to obtain simple explicit activity-concentration relationships are discussed.     

Nephelines from the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic complex (Southern Italy): crystal-chemical,structural and genetic investigations

Sixteen nephelines from different geological occurrences were sampled at the type-locality, the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic complex (southern Italy), and investigated for their chemistry and crystal structure obtained by both single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction. Nepheline-bearing samples are metamorphic or from magmatic ejecta and pumice deposits. The lower K contents characterize the pumice- and some metamorphic-derived nephelines, whereas the higher ones are found in some samples from magmatic nodules. The amount of the anorthite molecule, quite low on average, can be more variable in the metamorphic nephelines. The crystal-structure investigations on Somma-Vesuvius samples compare well with previous studies of natural nephelines. All 16 nepheline samples adopt space group P6₃. The observed lattice parameters vary between 9.9768–9.9946 Å (for a) and 8.3614–8.3777 Å (for c), respectively. Furthermore, chemical analysis revealed that all specimens exhibit an excess of Si relative the ideal Si:Al ratio of 1:1. The analysis of the T-O distances in our samples clearly indicates a distinct ordering process of aluminium and silicon on the tetrahedral sites which is an agreement with Loewenstein’s rule. A linear correlation between the distance of symmetry equivalent split atoms O(1)-O(1)’ and the T(1)-O(1)-T(2) tilt angle was observed. The average <B-O> (B = Na) distances of all crystals are very similar which is consistent with the outcome of the site population refinement indicating full occupancy with sodium. Oriented precession-type sections of reciprocal space indicated the presence of at least the most intense family of satellite peaks, demonstrating that this group of satellite reflections can occur not only in nephelines from pegmatites and ijolites but also in rocks from completely different petrological settings.     

Computational study of tetrahedral Al–Si ordering in muscovite

 The nature of Al–Si ordering across the tetrahedral sites in muscovite, K₂Al₄(Si₆Al₂O₂₀)(OH)₄, was investigated using various computational techniques. Values of the atomic exchange interaction parameters J _l were obtained. From these parameters, a two-dimensional Al–Si ordering scheme was deduced. The transition temperature T _c for this two-dimensional ordering is 1900 K. There are several possible ordering schemes in three dimensions, based on different stacking sequences of ordered sheets of tetrahedral sites. Monte Carlo simulations of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional ordering were performed, but in the three-dimensional simulation only the two-dimensional ordering is seen, implying that three-dimensional ordering is too slow to be attained during the timescale of the simulation. The effect of the three-dimensional interactions is to raise the two-dimensional ordering temperature to 2140 K. From the three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation, the frequency of occurrence of 4Si0Al, 3Si1Al, 2Si2Al and 1Si3Al clusters was determined, which match those inferred by ²⁹Si MAS–NMR measurements reasonably well. In fact, the match suggests that the cation ordering seen in experiments corresponds to a configuration with considerable short-range order but no long-range order, similar to a state that is at a temperature just above an ordering phase transition. Received: 28 August 2000 / Accepted: 12 March 2001     

Structural characterisation of the high-pressure phase CaAl4Si2O11

Single crystals of CaAl₄Si₂O₁₁ were synthesised at 1,500?°C and 14 GPa in a multi-anvil press, and the structure of the phase determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction at room conditions. The structure-type is that of the “hexagonal barium ferrites”. The space group of the average structure is P6 ₃ /mmc and the cell parameters are a?=?5.4223(4) Å, c?=?12.7041(6) Å, V?=?323.28(5) ų, with Z?=?2, and its density is 3.905?g?cm^?3, which is reasonable for a high-pressure alumino-silicate phase. The 22 oxygen and two calcium atoms within the unit-cell form an approximate hexagonal-close-packed array. Ten of the twelve octahedral interstices within this array that have only oxygen atoms for apices are filled with Si and/or Al. M1 octahedra share edges to form a spinel-like sheet of octahedra. The average bond length ?=?1.833 Å suggests mixed occupancy by Si and Al. The M1 octahedral sheets are linked by shared corners to pairs of face-sharing M2 octahedra containing Al, with ?= 1.918 Å. The remaining two cations of the unit-cell contents statistically occupy four tetrahedrally-coordinated interstices, which occur as face-sharing pairs. The average bond length for these sites (1.742 Å) suggests that they are occupied by Al, although Si occupancy cannot be excluded by the data. It is proposed that only one interstice of each pair is locally occupied, with the possibility of some short-range ordering of such occupancies. Complete long-range order leading to the acentric space group P6 ₃ mc is excluded by the data, as is the possibility of the average structure being comprised of merohedral (0?0?0?1) twins of P6 ₃ mc symmetry.