The Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex (CACC), situated between the northern and southern oceanic strands of Neotethys, contain a number of little-studied ophiolitic bodies of late Cretaceous age that have a bearing on the Mesozoic development of this region. The pillow lavas and sheeted dykes of the Sarikaraman Ophiolite were originally a comagmatic differentiated series of vesicular, aphyric and olivine-poor, plagioclase—clinopyroxene phyric tholeiites, but now exhibit greenschist facies assemblages. A set of late dolerite dykes cross-cutting the whole volcanic sequence are more chemically evolved and were probably derived from a different source. Relative to N-MORB the lavas and dykes are enriched in some LIL elements (K, Rb, Cs, U, Th and Sr) and depleted in HFS elements (Nb, Ta, Hf, Zr, Ti and Y) and light REE. In terms of immobile elements the ophiolitic basalts have the broad chemical characteristics of island are tholeiites that were formed in a supra-subduction zone setting, whereas the late dykes are more akin to N-MORB. In this respect the Sarikaraman Ophiolite is similar to other ophiolites found in the eastern Mediterranean region and emphasizes the preservation of this particular environment in the CACC. If all the Central Anatolian Ophiolites (of which the Sarikaraman Ophiolite is one example) were derived via southward thrusting from the Vardar-Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan Ocean branch to the north, age relationships suggest that this segment of ocean crust was relatively short-lived before obduction onto the CACC.

The Fountain Hill skarn, which was produced by thermal metamorphism of impure limestone in the Omey Granite aureole, consists of wollastonite, calcite, grossular-andradite garnet, diopside, B-free vesuvianite and small amounts of albite, K-feldspar and quartz. Zoning in vesuvianite is, overall, independent of birefringence but oscillatory concentric zoning in the mineral is controlled mainly by Ti. In addition to extensive within-site substitutions (e.g. F for OH in the OH-sites, Fe2+ for Mg, Fe3+ for Al, Ti for Al etc. in the Y-sites), there are significant cross-site combined substitutions involving Y-X and Y-Z but not X-Z sites so that ideal solution models for this mineral are not applicable. The thermodynamic mole fraction of Hoisch (1985) is modified to account for the excess of the ΣY cations in the Y sites and can be applied to both B-bearing and B-free vesuvianites. Using the thermodynamic dataset of Holland and Powell (1990) and taking into account the existence of andalusite, sillimanite and corundum in associated pelites, leads to the conclusion that the metamorphic conditions were about 640±20°C and 3.3±0.3 kb at 0.15±0.05 XCO2.

We have developed a system using ‘forescatter detectors’ for backscattered imaging of specimen surfaces inclined at 50–80° to the incident beam (inclined-scanning) in the SEM. These detectors comprise semiconductor chips placed below the tilted specimen. Forescatter detectors provide an orientation contrast (OC) image to complement quantitative crystallographic data from electron backscatter patterns (EBSP). Specimens were imaged using two detector geometries and these images were compared to those collected with the specimen surface normal to the incident beam (normal-scanning) using conventional backscattered electron detector geometries and also to an automated technique, orientation imaging microscopy (OIM). When normal-scanning, the component of the BSE signal relating to the mean atomic number (z) of the material is an order of magnitude greater than any OC component, making OC imaging in polyphase specimens almost impossible. Images formed in inclined-scanning, using forescatter detectors, have OC and z-contrast signals of similar magnitude, allowing OC imaging in polyphase specimens.

OC imaging is purely qualitative, and by repeatedly imaging the same area using different specimen-beam geometries, we found that a single image picks out less than 60% of the total microstructural information and as many as 6 combined images are required to give the full data set. The OIM technique is limited by the EBSP resolution (1–2°) and subsequently misses a lot of microstructural information. The use of forescatter detectors is the most practical means of imaging OC in tilted specimens, but it is also a powerful tool in its own right for imaging microstructures in polyphase specimens, an essential asset for geological work.

An experimental study of cadmium substitution into AgXS2 phases (X = As, Bi, Sb) indicates significant amounts of cadmium can be incorporated in the structure by the mechanism 2Cd ⇌ Ag + X. The limit of substitution of Cd in the high-temperature polymorph of miargyrite, β-AgSbS2 is 6.2 at.%, whereas the low-temperature polymorph, α-AgSbS2, can accommodate at least 12 at.% cadmium. Substitution of Cd into the cubic β-AgSbS2 induces a small monoclinic distortion and the unit cell becomes pseudo-cubic. The α ⇌ β transition in Cd-substituted miargyrites is modified by the solute ions, with both a reduction of Tc and transition smearing evident. Similar effects are also recorded in Cd-substituted AgAsS2 and AgBiS2.

In reviewing the distribution of fluorine in igneous rocks it is clear that F abundance is related to alkalinity and to some extent to volatile contents. Two important F-bearing series are recognized: (1) the alkali basalt—ultrapotassic rocks in which F increases with increasing K2O and decreasing SiO2 contents; and (2) the alkali basalt—phonolite—rhyolite series with F showing positive correlation with both total alkalis and SiO2. Detailed studies of series (1) show that F abundance in ultrapotassic magmas (lamproite, kamafugite, lamprophyre) occurs in descending order in the sequence phlogopite>apatite>amphibole>glass. Fluorine contents in the same minerals from fresh and altered mantle xenoliths may be several orders of magnitude less than those in the host kamafugite. For many lamproites, F contents correlate with higher mg# suggesting that F is highest in the more primitive magmas.

Experiments at mantle conditions (20 kbar, 900–1400°C) on simplified F-bearing mineral systems containing phlogopite, apatite, K-richterite, and melt show that F is generally a compatible element. Additionally, low F abundance in minerals from mantle xenoliths suggests that F may not be available in mantle source regions and hence is unlikely to partition into the melt phase on partial melting. Melting experiments on the compositions of F-free and F-bearing model phlogopite harzburgite indicate that even small variations in F content produce melts similar in composition to those of lamproite.

Chlorine is the most abundant halogen in sedimentary formation waters with concentrations from <100 to >250000 mg/l. Bromine is the second most abundant halogen at <1 mg/l to >6000 mg/l with iodine from <0.1 mg/l to >100 mg/l and fluorine from <0.1 mg/l to 30 mg/l. Chlorine and bromine show a strong systematic covariation suggesting that they are subject to the same controlling mechanisms. Fluorine only shows relatively high concentrations at elevated chlorine and bromine concentrations showing that fluorine, chlorine and bromine are possibly controlled by the same processes. Iodine does not correlate with any of the other halogens indicating that unique processes control iodine.

Key geological parameters that influence chlorine and bromine (and possibly fluorine) concentrations are the presence of salt in a basin, the age of the reservoir unit and the kerogen-type within the main hydrocarbon source rock in a basin. The presence of salt in a basin shows that sea water was evaporated to halite saturation producing connate waters with high concentrations of chlorine and bromine. The presence of salt also leads to high salinity waters through water-salt interaction during burial and diagenesis. Tertiary reservoirs typically have much lower chlorine and bromine concentrations than Mesozoic or Palaeozoic reservoirs. The age of the reservoir unit may simply reflect the different amounts of time available for formation water to interact with salt. The dominance of type II marine kerogen in a basin leads to higher bromine concentrations. This may reflect the dominance of a marine influence in a basin which is more likely to lead to salt deposition than terrestrial depositional environments. Iodine concentrations are independent of all these parameters. Other geological parameters such as depth of burial, temperature, basin forming mechanism and reservoir lithology have no influence upon halogen concentrations.

Key processes that affect halogen concentrations are sea water evaporation and dilution, water—salt interaction and input from organic sources. Chlorine and bromine data lie close to the experimentally-derived sea water evaporation trend showing that sea water evaporation may be an important general control on halogens. Sea water dilution is probably responsible for most low salinity formation water chlorine and bromine concentrations for the same reason. Sea water dilution can occur either by meteoric invasion during burial, or following uplift and erosion, or by diagenetic dehydration reactions. Water can interact with salt in a variety of ways: halite dissolution by congruent processes, halite recrystallization by incongruent processes, sylvite dissolution or recrystallization and halite fluid inclusion rupture. Halite dissolution will lead to high chlorine and relatively low bromine waters because halite contains little bromine. In contrast, halite recrystallization will lead to bromine-enhanced waters because NaBr dissolves preferentially to NaCl. The occurrence of dissolution or recrystallization will depend on the water rock ratio, greater volumes of water will lead to more dissolution and waters with higher Cl/Br ratios. Sylvite is usually rich in bromine so dissolution will lead to bromine-enhanced waters. Primary aqueous inclusions in halite contain high bromine concentrations so that rupture, during deformation or recrystallization, will lead to bromine-enhanced formation water. A combination of these processes are responsible for the very limited range of Cl/Br ratios although congruent halite dissolution must have a limited role due to the absence of waters with high Cl/Br ratios.

Iodine is strongly concentrated in organic materials in the marine environment; oils and organic rich-source rocks have high I/Cl and I/Br ratios relative to sea water or evaporated sea water. All formation waters are enriched in iodine relative to sea water implying that there has been input from organic matter or interaction with oil. However, hydrocarbon source rock type in a basin has no discernible effect upon iodine concentrations.

Benleonardite, ideally Ag8(Sb,As)Te253, occurs in ore specimens from the Mayflower and Gies epithermal gold-silver telluride deposits in Montana commonly spatially associated with hessite and tetrahedrite. In these deposits, it is Cu-bearing (up to 2.7 wt.%) and exhibits a slight deficiency in Ag+Cu coupled with a slight excess in S. A cervelleite-like mineral coexists with benleonardite at Mayflower and is unusual in composition in that it is Se-bearing suggesting the possibility of solid solution with aguilarite (Ag4SeS).

The Inagli complex, one of several Mesozoic intrusive complexes of the Aldan Shield (Siberian Platform), exhibits a concentric structure comprising several alkaline ultramafic rock-types. A central dunite body is surrounded by olivine- and phlogopite-clinopyroxenites forming an inner rim. The outer rim consists of different shonkinitic and malignitic rocks. The K-Ar ages obtained for the whole complex vary around 132 Ma.

The dunites and clinopyroxenites are characterized by cumulate textures. With increasing modal abundances of clinopyroxene and subordinate phlogopite, the rocks develop to olivine-clinopyroxenite, shonkinite, and malignite with intercumulus potassium feldspar. Mineralogical characterization of the rocks suggests they evolved by fractional crystallization. The highly forsteritic olivines (Fo up to 95) require a melt as magnesian as mg# 87.1, representing ±26 wt.% MgO. The parental melt is likely to be an olivine-, H2O- and K2O-rich picritic liquid of shoshonitic character. Major and trace element systematics show high LILE/LREE and LREE/HFSE ratios indicating the involvement of a subduction zone component in the genesis of these rocks.

The main mineralized zone of the West subcomplex of the Deadhorse Creek diatreme complex, northwestern Ontario possesses an exotic mineralogy. Mineralization involves the first-order transition metals (principally Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe), the second-order transition metals (principally Zr and Nb), the lanthanides, the actinides (principally Th and U), Be, Ba and Sr. Minerals include phenacite, zircon, uraninite, thorite, monazite-(Ce), xenotime-(Y), barylite, thortveitiite, hollandite, tyuyamunite, a number of unknown and as yet undescribed species, and those minerals more specifically described in this paper. These are Cr-V-Nb rutile, V-rich members of the crichtonite series, and a titanate of general composition (Cr,V3+,Fe3+)2(Ti,V4+,Nb)O5.

Similar to rutiles reported from alkaline rocks in general, the Deadhorse Creek rutiles are enriched in Cr and Nb, with the latter element attaining some of the highest recorded values. V contents are also unusually high and this element is thought to exist in both the tri- and tetravalent states.

The V-rich crichtonites are essentially vanadium analogues of crichtonite and lindsleyite. M-site Nb and V are the highest yet recorded. A-site cations are dominated by Ba and Sr with an inverse relationship together with lesser but significant amounts of Ca and Pb. Although not of upper mantle origin, they plot in the upper mantle LIMA quadrant of TiO2vs. FeO + Fe2O3 + MgO (Haggerty, 1991).

(Cr,V3+,Fe3+)2(Ti,V4+,Nb)O5 is thought to be a member of an homologous series of type (Cr,V3+,Fe3+)2p(Ti,V4+,Nb)2p+qO5p+4q with p = 1 and q = 0 and a V3O5-type structure. Whether this structure is ultimately derived from that of rutile or from α-PbO2 by crystallographic shear is not known.

The rutiles and titanates discussed here are thought to have formed from hydrous alkaline solutions which have scavenged the necessary elements from a mafic/ultramafic source. The origin of the solutions is not specifically known although the magmatic activity associated with the spatially related Coldwell alkaline complex and/or the Prairie Lake complex are both potential sources. Both complexes contain the necessary mafic/ultramafic rocks.

The Lavrion area is part of the Attic-Cycladic massif. Blue amphibole analyses revealed that they are glaucophane or ferroglaucophane. Ca-amphiboles are characterized as actinolite or actinolitic hornblende. The Ps component of epidotes from the glaucophane-bearing rocks varies from 25.42–30.89%, whereas the Ps component of epidotes from the greenschist assemblages ranges from 23.81–26.88%. Chlorites show narrow compositional variations of ferromagnesian ratios (Xmg=0.48–0.53). Albites are almost pure Ab100. The Kfeldspar present has a low Ab content. The evolution of the prasinites studied is characterized by the progressive transformation of eclogite facies (?) rocks through epidote blueschists into greenschists. A P-T path for the prasinites is presented indicating epidote blueschist facies at P-T conditions of around 7.0–7.5 kbar and 300–340°C. Pressures of 4.0–4.5 kbar and temperatures around 340–360°C are estimated for the subsequent overprint in the greenschist facies. The path EBS to GS conditions followed under nearly isothermal uplift.

The study focuses on the distribution of B, Be, Li, rare earth elements (REE), high-field-strength elements (HFSE), Th, U and Pb in fresh and hydrothermally altered ocean island basalts (OIB) from French Polynesia, and evaluates B/Be and Li/Be ratios as potential tracers of subducted components in the mantle. Hydrothermal solutions affecting the rocks during cooling were derived from meteoric water, sea water and magmatic fluids. The concentrations of REE, HFSE, Th and Be in the OIB were not affected by secondary processes except during advanced stages of subaerial hydrothermal alteration where saponite was a dominant secondary phase. This alteration modified the contents of these elements, changed REE patterns and produced a positive Ce anomaly. The subaerial and submarine hydrothermal alteration (T ∼ 70–100°C) may change U concentrations in OIB, whereas Pb was only marginally redistributed during alteration.

Boron was enriched during submarine and subaerial hydrothermal alteration but was not noticeably affected in basalts altered by magmatic fluids at T > 200°C. Like B, the mobility of Li during the alteration varies with fluid temperature. Lithium became enriched in the basalts during advanced stages of lower T hydrothermal alteration (<100°C). However, this element was partly removed from the rocks during higher T alteration (>200°C) by magmatic fluids. Boron, Be and Li behave as incompatible trace elements in basaltic magmas. Beryllium content in primitive mantle is estimated to be 0.07 ppm. Fresh Polynesian OIB have low abundances of B and Li and low B/Be (2–5) and Li/Be (2.5–5) ratios compared with volcanic arc rocks, marine sediments and altered oceanic crust. Various OIB including even those which have HIMU- and EM-affinities have similar overlapping B/Be and Li/Be ratios. Both B and Li are probably stripped from a lithospheric slab during subduction-related metamorphism and are, thus, not involved in deep mantle recycling. The mantle-normalized trace element abundances of MORB and OIB usually display patterns characterized by negative B, Pb and Li anomalies. The patterns of continental crust and crustal rocks have distinct positive anomalies for these elements whereas continental basaltic rocks have variable relative abundances of B, Pb and Li. The anomalies of these elements in basalts can be useful in discriminating their tectonic setting and constraining the mantle source regions of basalts.

A detailed study of weathered pyrochlore in the laterite above carbonatite at Lueshe, NE Zaire, has been made in order to determine its chemical and textural variations. Pyrochlore in fresh carbonatite at Lueshe is close to an ideal formula of (Ca,Na)2Nb2O6(OH,F) (where a general formula is A2−xB2O6(OH,F)1−y·zH2O. The first and principal change on weathering occurs at the base of the profile and involves the leaching and partial exchange of A cations together with hydration. This change appears common to weathered pyrochlore worldwide. As a result weathered pyrochlore at Lueshe has a large apparent A cation deficiency with A totals between 0.25 and 0.59. The B cations remain stable. Abundant kalipyrochlore is unique to Lueshe and is thought to be related to the abundance of potassium feldspar in the fresh carbonatite, showing that the actual composition of weathered pyrochlore is a characteristic of a particular deposit. Weathered profiles at Lueshe are not simple trends from the least to most leached compositions. Further factors including variation in whole rock mineralogy and chemistry, and cation exchange and uptake are responsible for local concentrations of strontio-, bario- and calcium-rich, sodium-poor pyrochlore in the ore body, as well as rims of ceriopyrochlore on kalipyrochlore. The most important textural relationship in the Lueshe pyrochlore is the intimate intergrowth with crandallite in the most weathered parts of the laterite. Although pyrochlore persists throughout the weathering profile, niobium-beating goethite is thought to represent the final product of pyrochlore breakdown.

In calcites and dolomites in seven African carbonatites, SrO, FeO and MnO occur in concentrations from 1 to 2 wt.%, whereas Ce, Y, Cu and Zn occur only at the ppm level. Sr, Ce and Y partition preferentially into calcite relative to co-existing dolomite, whereas Fe and Mn favour dolomite. Sr partitions preferentially into calcite relative to co-exisiting apatite, but the light rare-earth elements partition into apatite. Magnetite from Kerimasi contains up to 13 wt.% MgO and 6 wt.% MnO, extending the known ranges in composition of magnetites from carbonatites.

The concentrations of Br in potable groundwaters in the United Kingdom range from 60 to 340 µg 1-1. The occurrence of Br is described in terms of the Br/Cl weight ratio which enables small changes in bromide concentrations to be assessed in terms of salinity. Median values of Br/Cl in groundwaters range from 2.60 to 5.15 × 10−3 compared with a sea water ratio of 3.47× 10−3. In recent shallow groundwaters the Br/Cl ratio is rather variable in response to a range of natural and anthropogenic inputs (marine and industrial aerosols, industrial and agricultural chemicals including road salt). Some slight enrichment in Br/Cl also occurs naturally during infiltration as a result of biogeochemical processes.

Evolution of Br/Cl along groundwater flow lines reflects the sources of increasing salinity; either the influence of marine sedimentary formations or evaporites. The groundwaters in the Triassic sandstones of the English Midlands show significant Br depletion due to the evaporite source, in contrast to groundwaters in Cumbria. Br/Cl ratios in the Sherwood Sandstone of the East Midlands mainly reflect the natural input sources and can be used to help understand the palaeohydrology.

The petrology of a massive olivine-sulphide interplanetary dust particle shows melting of Fe,Ni-sulphide plus complete loss of sulphur and subsequent quenching to a mixture of iron-oxides and Fe,Ni-metal. Oxidation of the fayalite component in olivine produced maghemite discs and cellular intergrowths with olivine and rare andradite-rich garnet. Cellular reactions require no long-range solid-state diffusion and are kinetically favourable during pyrometamorphic oxidation. Local melting of the cellular intergrowths resulted in three dimensional symplectic textures. Dynamic pyrometamorphism of this asteroidal particle occurred at ∼1100°C during atmospheric entry flash (5–15 s) heating.

From G. F. Becker's and L. V. Pirsson's early enunciations linking the dynamics of magma chambers to the rock records of sills and plutons to this day, two features stand at the centre of nearly every magmatic process: solidification fronts and phenocrysts. The structure and behaviour of the envisioned solidification front, however, has been mostly that akin to non-silicate, non-multiply-saturated systems, which has led to confusion in appreciating its role in magmatic evolution. The common habit of intruding magmas to carry significant amounts of phenocrysts, which can lead to efficient fractionation, layering, and interstitial melt flow within extensive mush piles, when coupled with solidification fronts, allows a broad understanding of the processes leading to the rock records of sills and lava lakes. These same processes are fundamental to understanding all magmas.

The spatial manifestation of the liquidus and solidus is the Solidification Front (SF); all magmas, stationary or in transit, are encased by SFs. In the ideal case of an initially crystal-free, cooling magma, crystallinity increases from nucleation on the leading liquidus edge to a holocrystalline rock at the trailing solidus. The package of SF isotherms advances inward, thickening with time and, depending on location — roof, floor, or walls — and the initial crystallinity of the magma, is instrumental in controlling magmatic evolution. Bimodal volcanism as well as much of the structure of the oceanic crust may arise from the behaviour of SFs.

In mafic magmas, somewhere near a crystallinity (N) of 55% (vol), depending on the phase assemblage, the SF changes from a viscous fluid (suspension (0<N<25) and mush (25<N<55%)) to an elastic crystalline network (rigid crust (55<N<100%)) of some strength containing interstitial residual melt. With thickening of the roofward SF of some mafic magmas, the weight of the leading, viscous portion repeatedly tears the crust near N ∼ 55–60%, efficiently segregating the local residual melt into zones of interdigitating silicic lenses. This is SF instability (SFI), a process of possible importance in continental crust initiation and evolution, in producing silicic segregations in oceanic crust, and in recording the inability of the viscous part of the upper SF ever to detach wholly in typical (<∼ 1 km) sheet-like magmas. These granophyric and pegmatitic segregations, individually reaching 1–2 m in thickness and 30–50 m in length, form thick (∼ 50–75 m) zones that can be misconstrued as sandwich horizons where the last liquids might have accumulated. In effectively splitting the magma chemically and spatially, SFI is, in essence, a form of chaos (i.e. silicic chaos).

Differentiation of initially crystal-free, stationary magmas is limited to processes occurring within SFs, which operate in competition with the rate of inward advancement of solidification. Local processes operating on characteristic time scales longer than the time for the SF to advance a distance equal to its own thickness are suppressed. Enormous increases in viscosity outward within the viscous, leading portion of the SF efficiently partition the distribution of melt accessible to eruption. Eruptible melts lie essentially inward of the SF and are thus severely restricted in silica enrichment. The silica-enriched SFI melts are thus generally inaccessible to collection and eviction unless the host SF is reprocessed or “burned back” through, respectively, later regional magmatism or massive, late-stage re-injection. And because of large viscosity contrasts between SFI melts and host basalts, once freed, SFI melts are literally impossible to homogenize back into the system and may collect and compact against the roof to form large silicic masses. Unusually voluminous, bulbous masses of silicic granophyre present along, and sometimes warping, the roofs of large diabase sills may reflect collections of remobilized blobs of SFI melts. These bulbous masses may be later added to the continental crust through solid state creep.

In sheets made of phenocryst-rich, singly saturated magma, most phenocrysts are able through settling or floating to avoid capture by the advancing SFs. Significant differentiation is possible through extensive settling of initial phenocrysts and upward leakage of interstitial residual melt from the associated cumulate pile, which over-thickens the lower SF, greatly tipping the competitive edge against suppression of melt leakage by advancing solidification. Dense interstitial melts may similarly drain from roofward cumulates of light phenocrysts. The variation in crystal size and modal abundance in these cumulate piles are intimate records of prior crystallization, transport, and filling.

Magmas in transit erode SFs and thoroughly charge the magma with crystals, facilitating fractionation and differentiation, especially if the body occasionally comes to rest. The key to protracted differentiation through fractional crystallization is not crystallization in stationary, closed chambers, but the repeated transport and chambering of magma or the periodic resupply to chambers of phenocryst-rich magma. This is punctuated differentiation, which may be the general case. Close corollaries are that thick, closed sheets of initially crystal-free, multiply-saturated magma undergo precious little overall differentiation, and that deciphering the sequence and crystallinity, including in transit phenocryst entrainment, growth, and sorting, of the filling events is central to unravelling intrusive history.

Variations in temperature, whether on phase diagrams or in actual magmas, are intrinsically linked to commensurate variations in space and time in magmatic systems. The spectrum of all physical and chemical processes associated with magma is accordingly strongly partitioned in space and time.

The idea of a magma chamber as a vat of low crystallinity melt crystallizing everywhere within and differentiating through crystal settling is unrealistic. A magma chamber formed of any number of crystal-laden inputs, encased by inward-propagating, dynamic solidification fronts, and where significant differentiation is tied to the dynamics of late-stage, interstitial melt within extensive mush piles is more in accord with the rock record.

The advantages of X-ray absorption spectroscopy have been utilized to assess the Cu and Zn ordering in aurichalcite, (Cu5−xZnx)(OH)6(CO3)2. We have examined one hydrozincite sample and three aurichalcite samples in which the Cu:Zn ratios are in the range 1:3 to 2:3. Copper 2p XAS confirms that there is no monovalent copper in aurichalcite and that in each sample the copper might be distributed across more than one metal site. EXAFS, at the Cu and Zn K-edges, shows that the copper atoms preferentially enter the Jahn-Teller elongated, octahedral (M2) and trigonal bipyramidal (M4) sites, with the zinc atoms entering the more regular octahedral (M1) and tetrahedral (M3) site. Substantial solid solution towards the zinc rich region is facilitated by the substitution of copper by zinc on the M2 and M4 sites. This information, not easily obtained by X-ray diffraction, substantially enhances the understanding of the structure of aurichalcite.

Tritin(II)dihydroxyoxosulphate, Sn3O(OH)2SO4, is a rare corrosion product found on the surfaces of certain tin alloys. A new synthesis based on the hydrolysis of SnSO4 is described. The stability constant determination of Sn3O(OH)2SO4,s, at 298.2K and 105Pa is determined using direct measurements via electrodes, of the activities of tin(II) and sulphate ions. ΔfG0(298.2K) is equal to −1563.1 ± 0.9 KJ mol−1.