Abstract
The new mineral möhnite, ideally (NH4)K2Na(SO4)2, the ammonium analogue of aphthitalite, is found in a guano deposit on the Pabellón de Pica mountain, near Chanabaya, Iquique Province, Tarapacá Region, Chile. It is associated with salammoniac, halite, joanneumite, natroxalate, nitratine, chanabayaite, and a clay mineral. Möhnite occurs as random aggregates and clusters of brown imperfect bipyramidal or spindle-shaped crystals. The mineral is brittle, with Mohs’ hardness of 3; Dmeas is 2.4(1) g/cm3 and Dcalc is 2.461 g/cm3. The IR spectrum shows the presence of NH4 + cations (the bands at 1431, 3076 and 3240 cm−1). Möhnite is almost isotropic, optically neutral; ε = ω = 1.505(2). The chemical composition (electron-microprobe data, N determined by gas chromatography of products of ignition, H calculated by stoichiometry, wt%) is: (NH4)2O 7.99, Na2O 9.49, K2O 32.34, SO3 51.32, total 101.14. The empirical formula is (NH4)0.95Na0.95 K2.14S1.99O8. The crystal structure was solved and refined to R = 0.049 based on 241 unique reflections with I > 2σ(I). Möhnite is trigonal, space group P \( \overline{3} \) m1, a = 5.7402(3) Å, c = 7.435(1) Å, V = 212.16(4) Å3, Z = 1. The strongest reflections of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern [d, Å (I,%) (hkl)] are: 4.955 (27) (100), 4.122 (37) (101, 011), 3.708 (29) (002), 2.969 (74) (102, 012), 2.861 (100) (110), 2.474 (20) (003), 2.060 (33) (022). The mineral is named in honour of the German amateur mineralogist Gerhard Möhn (born 1959).
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 14-17-00048 (mineralogical investigations), and grant no. MK-4990.2014.5 of the Foundation of the President of the Russian Federation (structural investigations). The authors are grateful to Dr. Yulia V. Nelyubina for the providing of single-crystal XRD experiment. The technical support by the SPbSU X-Ray Diffraction Research Resource Center in the XRD powder-diffraction studies is acknowledged. We thank both anonymous referees and the Associate Editor A. Beran for valuable comments.
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Chukanov, N.V., Aksenov, S.M., Rastsvetaeva, R.K. et al. Möhnite, (NH4)K2Na(SO4)2, a new guano mineral from Pabellón de Pica, Chile. Miner Petrol 109, 643–648 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-015-0395-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-015-0395-1