ABSTRACT
Ion radii are derived here from the characteristic (grand mean) bond lengths for (i) 135 ions bonded to oxygen in 459 configurations (on the basis of coordination number) using 177 143 bond lengths extracted from 30 805 ordered coordination polyhedra from 9210 crystal structures; and (ii) 76 ions bonded to nitrogen in 137 configurations using 4048 bond lengths extracted from 875 ordered coordination polyhedra from 434 crystal structures. There are two broad categories of use for ion radii: (1) those methods which use the relative sizes of cation and anion radii to predict local atomic arrangements; (2) those methods which compare the radii of different cations (or the radii of different anions) to predict local atomic arrangements. There is much uncertainty with regard to the relative sizes of cations and anions, giving rise to the common failure of type (1) methods, e.g. Pauling's first rule which purports to relate the coordination adopted by cations to the radius ratio of the constituent cation and anion. Conversely, type (2) methods, which involve comparing the sizes of different cations with each other (or different anions with each other), can give very accurate predictions of site occupancies, physical properties etc. Methods belonging to type (2) can equally well use the characteristic bond lengths themselves (from which the radii are derived) in place of radii to develop correlations and predict crystal properties. Extensive quantum-mechanical calculations of electron density in crystals in the literature indicate that the radii of both cations and anions are quite variable with local arrangement, suggesting significant problems with any use of ion radii. However, the dichotomy between the experimentally derived ion radii and the quantum-mechanical calculations of electron density in crystals is removed by the recognition that ion radii are proxy variables for characteristic bond lengths in type (2) relations.
ABSTRACT
The high-temperature (HT) behaviour of lobanovite, K2Na(Fe2+4Mg2Na)Ti2(Si4O12)2O2(OH)4, was studied using in situ powder X-ray diffraction in the temperature range 25-1000°C and ex situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction of 17 crystals quenched from different temperatures. HT iron oxidation associated with dehydroxylation starts at 450°C, similar to other ferrous-hydroxy-rich heterophyllosilicates such as astrophyllite and bafertisite. A prominent feature of lobanovite HT crystal chemistry is the redistribution of Fe and Mg+Mn cations over the M(2), M(3), M(4) sites of the octahedral (O) layer that accompanies iron oxidation and dehydroxylation. This HT redistribution of cations has not been observed in titanosilicates until now, and seems to be triggered by the need to maintain bond strengths at the apical oxygen atom of the TiO5 pyramid in the heteropolyhedral (H) layer during oxidation-dehydroxylation. Comparison of the HT behaviour of lobanovite with five-coordinated Ti and astrophyllite with six-coordinated Ti shows that the geometry of the Ti polyhedron plays a key role in the HT behaviour of heterophyllosilicates. The thermal expansion, geometrical changes and redistribution of site occupancies which occur in lobanovite under increasing temperature are reported. A brief discussion is given of minerals in which the cation ordering (usually for Fe and Mg) occurs together with iron oxidation-dehydroxylation at elevated temperatures: micas, amphiboles and tourmalines. Now this list is expanded by the inclusion of titanosilicate minerals.
ABSTRACT
Si-enriched coatings form on the surface of silicate minerals under acidic conditions. Although they are often only a few nanometers thick, their large specific surface area may control the interaction between silicate minerals in acidic soils, aquifers, and mine tailings. Micrometer thick, hydrous-silica coatings occur on the surface of a granite outcrop in contact with acidic pond water at the Coppercliff mine-tailings area in the Greater City of Sudbury, Ontario, and are ideal to study the concentration and speciation of metals and metalloids inside Si-enriched coatings. These coatings have higher average concentrations of Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb than coatings composed of schwertmannite, Fe(8)O(8)(OH)(4.4)(SO(4))(1.8) (H(2)O)(8.4). Microscopic and spectroscopic examination of the hydrous-silica coating indicates the occurrence of Fe- and Cu-Zn-oxy-hydroxide particles, tetrahedrally coordinated Fe(3+) and a high proportion of M-O-Si bonds (M = metal). These observations suggest that metals occur either finely distributed in the hydrous-silica matrix or in oxy-hydroxide particles. The latter particles are products of the diffusion of metals into the hydrous silica and the subsequent nucleation of oxy-hydroxide phases.
