Onoratoite, a new antimony oxychloride Sb8O11Cl2 from the antimony mines of Cetine di Cotorniano, Rosia (Siena, Italy), is triclinic with lattice constants a 18·92, b 4·03, c 10·31 Å, α ≃ γ ≃ 90°, β 110°. Density 5·3 meas., 5·49 calc. The needle-like crystals are elongated on [010] and show as prominent form {001}. Other forms present are {100}, {201}, {401}, {412}.

The new mineral is optically biaxial negative, extinction angle small and variable from 0° to 14°. Orientation β:[100] ca. 8°; α:[001] ca. 12°; γ:[010] 0 to 14°. Refractive indices are 2·26 > γ > 2·23, 2·23 > β > 2·18. Birefringence γ-β 0·024 (meas.).

The stability field of onoratoite has been investigated by systematic thermo-gravimetric and differential thermal analysis of antimony oxychlorides and by a direct study of equilibrium relationships in the system SbCl3-Sb2O3-HCl-H2O. The probable mechanism of formation of onoratoite is discussed.

Onoratoite is named in honour of the Italian mineralogist Ettore Onorato.

Quantitative electronprobe microanalyses have been made of stannite from various localities. It was found that in general this mineral corresponds in composition to the formula Cu2FeSnS4. However, noticeable deviations in the ratio of the metals can occur and considerable concentrations of zinc may be present.

Some tin minerals related to stannite have also been analysed, namely hexastannite, mawsonite, and an apparently hitherto unknown mineral to which the name rhodostannite is given.

An enstatite-cordierite-sillimanite-quartz rock from a pyroxenegranulite facies terrain in southern Rhodesia gives evidence of at least two stages of recrystallization : an early, high-pressure recrystallization to form the assemblage enstatite-kyanite-quartz, and a later, ‘retrogressive’ recrystallization during which kyanite inverted to sillimanite, and cordierite was formed by reaction. The rock itself has ratios of R2+ : Al : Si that are virtually those of cordierite ; the recent data of Schreyer (1967) may thus be applied to the occurrence. The early kyanite-enstatite recrystallization occurred under pressures in excess of 10 kb, corresponding to depths greater than those of the continental Moho.

Variations in the value of 2θ131 – 2θ13̄1 of two anorthoclase feldspars of compositions Ab95Or5 and Ab90Or10 were investigated by hydrothermal crystallization of gels for long periods in the temperature range 500–950 °C, at water vapour pressures up to 15 000 lb/in.2. The results are compared to those obtained by MacKenzie (1957) for pure albite. It is shown that the variation in 2θ131 – 2θ13̄1 is largely the result of Al-Si order-disorder and that at 700 °C and above the magnitude of the variation in the anorthoclases suggests that the degree of order is like that in albite, but at lower temperatures, particularly below 600 °C, the variation is less, and the anorthoclases are less ordered than albite at the same temperatures. At 600 °C and above the rate of attainment of equilibrium is the same for all three compositions. Below 600 °C Ab95Or5 behaves differently to albite. At low temperatures the equilibrium degree of Al-Si order in mixed Na-K feldspars is a function of composition as well as of temperature of crystallization.

Forty-eight samples of tourmaline from the granitic rocks of south-west England have been analysed by emission spectrography for Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, Ti, Na, F, Li, Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Ga, Rb, Sr, Zr, Sn, and Sc. The tourmaline reflects the fractionation trends of the rocks from which it comes in the proportion of Mg, Ca, Ti, and certain trace elements it contains and is considered likely to have been a primary product of the magma. Textural evidence that indicates a later development is interpreted as recrystallization, possibly at low temperature, with little change in chemical composition. Hydrothermal tourmaline has a distinctive chemical composition, being higher in Mg, Ca, Sr, and Sn and lower in Fe, Mn, and F and also tending to have a higher Cr, V, Ni, and Sc content. The chemical composition of the tourmalines is used to show that some quartz-tourmaline rocks are the product of extreme fractionation and are not completely tourmalinized granites. Parti-coloured tourmaline is shown to be the result of hydrothermal growth.

Hydrothermal studies in the silica-rich region of the CaO-SiO2-H2O system have given information on the stability field of tobermorite. At saturated steam pressures tobermorite is unstable relative to xonotlite (C6S6H) above 140 °C but between 10 000 and 40 000 lb/in.2 (69 and 276 N/mm2), the decomposition temperature is raised to 285±5 °C. Tobermorite is stable at all compositions between C/S = 0·67 and 1·0 up to this temperature and has a formula close to C5S6H5. Variable compositions reported earlier are thought to be mixtures rather than lime-rich or silica-rich tobermorites.

Data have also been collected on the equilibrium assemblages below C/S = 0·67 and between C/S = 1·0 and 1·5 involving truscottite, gyrolite, xonotlite, foshagite, and hillebrandite.

The effects to be expected from the interaction of possible electric currents at depth with bodies of basaltic magma have been investigated experimentally. Trough-shaped molten specimens were produced in the surface of basalt blocks by heating from above ; the melts were electrolysed and the products analysed chemically.

Si, Al, Ti, P, Fe2+, and probably Fe3+ are concentrated towards the anode, apparently in the form of drifting lattice remnants; oxygen gas is liberated. Na, K, Ca, Mn, and Mg ions concentrate towards the cathode.

Relatively to basalt, the cathodic product is an alkaline and femic rock with normative nepheline and a more acid plagioclase. The anodic rock is distinctly calc-alkaline and salic, with normative quartz and a plagioclase that is more basic. The precise ‘rock-type’ developed depends on the amount of electricity passed, but the trends are distinct. In that increasing basicity and alkalinity (cathodic rocks) are accompanied by both increasing Na/K and Mg/(Fe2+ + Fe3+) ratios (which ratios decrease with decreasing basicity and alkalinity) the electrolytic series developed from a basalt magma appears to have few counterparts among natural rocks.

Cell dimensions obtained from X-ray powder photographs of twenty-four natural olivines and one synthetic forsterite have been related to the cation contents by a new statistical procedure developed by M. H. Hey. Unlike conventional statistical analysis, which assumes error only in one parameter, this procedure simultaneously considers the estimated errors in all variables.

Linear terms in Ca, Mn, Mg (or Fe(≡ 1-Mg-Ca-Mn)) satisfactorily account for the cell dimensions, and there was no need to invoke a term in Mg2. Since there are three cell dimensions and three chemical unknowns, it is theoretically possible to estimate the major cations in olivine just from the cell dimensions. However, the coefficients for Mn and Fe are so similar and the ranges of Ca and Mn are so small that the technique would be impractical.

Data for ideal (Mg,Fe) olivines were estimated by adjusting the cell dimensions by linear extrapolation from the cell dimensions of tephroite and monticellite. A simple chemical term was sufficient to account for each cell dimension. The linear relation between cell volume and Mg is consistent with the complete disorder of Mg and Fe revealed by parallel single-crystal X-ray studies.

The cell dimensions of a synthetic fayalite deviate significantly from those of natural fayalites after correction for the effects of Ca and Mn substitution in the latter: some structural or chemical difference, probably involving ferric iron, is indicated.

No superstructure lines have been found, in contradiction to Eliséev's data.

Microprobe analysis of leached and unleached varieties of a charnockitic rock from Madras supports the contention of Howie (1964) that the characteristic dark greenish colour of such rocks is contained mainly in fine (chloritic ?) veinlets cutting the feldspar and quartz, though a certain amount appears to be contained in exsolved sodium feldspar. Leaching of the darkish colour of the charnockitic rock has not affected the crystallographic state of the potassium feldspar.

From a metallographic examination it is suggested that Rancho de la Pila is a shock-hardened octahedrite; Murnpeowie is a cosmically reheated meteorite of unusual composition; Kopjes Vlei may have been produced by the reheating of a shock-hardened hexahedrite either cosmically or on earth; Braunau shows signs of preterrestrial reheating but Arltunga is a nickel-rich ataxite with no signs of metabolic alteration.