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Flaggite, Pb4Cu2+4Te6+2(SO4)2O11(OH)2(H2O), a new mineral with stair-step-like HCP layers from Tombstone, Arizona, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2022

Anthony R. Kampf Open the ORCID record for Anthony R. Kampf [Opens in a new window] ,
Stuart J. Mills ,
Aaron J. Celestian ,
Chi Ma Open the ORCID record for Chi Ma [Opens in a new window] ,
Hexiong Yang  and
Brent Thorne Open the ORCID record for Brent Thorne [Opens in a new window]
Anthony R. Kampf*
Affiliation:
Mineral Sciences Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
Stuart J. Mills
Affiliation:
Geosciences, Museums Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne 3001, Victoria, Australia
Aaron J. Celestian
Affiliation:
Mineral Sciences Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
Chi Ma
Affiliation:
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
Hexiong Yang
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E. 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Brent Thorne
Affiliation:
Independent Researcher, Bountiful, UT 84010, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Anthony R. Kampf, Email: akampf@nhm.org
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Abstract

The new mineral flaggite (IMA2021-044), Pb4Cu2+4Te6+2(SO4)2O11(OH)2(H2O), occurs at the Grand Central mine in the Tombstone district, Cochise County, Arizona, USA, in cavities in quartz matrix in association with alunite, backite, cerussite, jarosite and rodalquilarite. Flaggite crystals are lime-green to yellow-green tablets, up to 0.5 mm across. The mineral has a very pale green streak and adamantine lustre. It is brittle with irregular fracture and a Mohs hardness of ~3. It has one excellent cleavage on {010}. The calculated density is 6.137 g cm–3. Optically, the mineral is biaxial (+) with α = 1.95(1), β = 1.96(1), γ = 2.00(1) (white light); 2V = 54(2)°; pleochroism: X green, Y light yellow green, Z nearly colourless; X > Y > Z. The Raman spectrum exhibits bands consistent with TeO6 and SO4. Electron microprobe analysis provided the empirical formula Pb3.88Cu2+3.89Te6+2.08(SO4)2O11(OH)2(H2O) (–0.03 H). Flaggite is triclinic, P1, a = 9.5610(2), b = 9.9755(2), c = 10.4449(3) Å, α = 74.884(1), β = 89.994(1), γ = 78.219(1)°, V = 939.97(4) Å3 and Z = 2. The structure of flaggite (R1 = 0.0342 for 5936 I > 2σI) contains hexagonal-close-packed, stair-step-like layers comprising TeO6 octahedra and Jahn-Teller distorted CuO6 octahedra. The layers in the structure of flaggite are very similar to those in bairdite, timroseite and paratimroseite.

Keywords

flaggitenew mineraltelluratecrystal structureRaman spectroscopyHCP layersbairditetimroseiteparatimroseiteTombstoneArizonaUSA
Type
Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 397 - 404
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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Footnotes

Associate Editor: Irina O Galuskina

References

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