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Cascandite and jervisite, two new scandium silicates from Baveno,

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 American Mineralogist, Volume 67, pages 599403, l9E2

Cascanditeand jervisite, two new scandiumsilicatesfrom Baveno, Italy

M. MeLI-tNr, S. MenuNo, P. OnraNor

Istituto di Mineralogia e Petrografia, Universitd di

Pisa and C.NR., C.S. Geologia Strutturale e Dinamica
dell' Appennino, via S. Maria 53, 56100 Pisa, Italy

AND R. Rrnelor

Istituto di Mineralogia e Petrologia, Universitd di

Modena, viq S. Eufemia 19, 46100 Modena, Italy.

Abstract

Two new silicate minerals, cascanditeand jervisite, were found as small crystals in a
geode from Cava Diverio, Baveno, Italy.
CascanditeCa(Scs.7aMg0.02Al0 o+Mns.1sns.s5)SirOs.oz(OH)
0rFeE.l2)(Nao.orCao or ideally
CaScSirOeOH, has triclinic symmetry, space group PI with lattice dimensions a :
7 .529(lDA, b = 7.051(12)A,. : 6.755(9)A,a: 92'7'(5), F : 93"40'(5), y = 104'39'(5). The
X-ray powder diffraction pattern has the strongestreflections at d = 3.62(mX200)'3.10(m)
(20l,l2l,ol2), 2.968(m)(02l,lo2,ol2),2.821(s)(120),1.429(m).Cascanditeis structurallv
related to the wollastonite-pectolite-seranditegroup of minerals.
Jervisite (Nao.r:CaorrFeE.lnlo.rJ(Sco has monoclinic symmetry,
orne6jslr,tg6.le)Si2O6
spacegroup C2lc withlattice dimensionsa :-i.ssjtrrlA" b :9.042(10)A,, : 5.312Q)4,
F = 106'37'(7). The X-ray powder diffraction pattern has the strongest reflections at
d : 6.5l(wxl10), 4.51(wX02l,lll), 3.038(s)(221), 2.979(m)(310), 2.543 (m)(22r,002)'
1.647(m)(531,440). Jervisiteis a scandiumpyroxeneand a naturalanalogueofthe synthetic
phase NaScSi2O6.

Introduction phases, a scandium pyroxenoid and a scandium

pyroxene, respectively.For thesemineralswe pro-
We have recently studied some small crystals
posed the names cascandite from the chemical
that occur in the granite from Baveno, Itiily. The
composition and jervisite in honor of William P.
sample was obtained through the kindness of Dr.
Jervis, who was curator of the Museo Industriale
Enzo De Michele of the Museo Civico di Storia
Italiano di Torino and author of the book "I Tesori
Naturale, Milan. The crystals are platy in habit
(Fig. 1), light pink in color, and are associatedwith sotterranei dell' Italia" on italian minerals. The new
quartz, orthoclase and albite. The results of a minerals and their names were approved by the
qualitative energy dispersive analysis, which I.M.A. Commissionon New Minerals and Mineral
Names.
showed scandium as a major component, led to
further study. A subsequent electron microprobe
analysis, made on various crystal fragments,clearly X-ray crYstallograPhY
indicated the presenceof two different phases,both
rich in scandium, but differing in sodium and calci- Rotation and Weissenbergphotographs indicate
um content. that cascanditeis triclinic, with unit cell parameters
- :
We then reexamined the sample and found addi- a :'7.5A, b - 7.lA,c - 6.84, a 92o,F 93",y-
jervisite is
tional platelets that were light green in color. The 104", space ggoup Pl or Pi; whereas
-
results of the X-ray crystallographicstudy, together monoclinic with unit cell parametersd 9.84, b:
with the microprobe analytical data and the results 9.0A, c - 5.3A, F - 107",with spacegroupCLlc or
of the subsequentcrystal structure analyses,clearly Cc, on the basis of the systematicabsences(ftkl
indicated that the pale pink and the light green absentfor h + k:2n + l, hDlabsentfor l: 2n t
platelets corresponded to two distinct mineral 1). Space groups P1 and CLlc, for cascandite and
0003-004K82/0506-059$02. 00 599
600 MELLINI ET AL,: CASCANDITE AND JERVISITE

Table I gives the X-ray powder diffraction pat-

tern for cascandite.Becauseof the small quantity of
available material, we obtained the powder pattern
by the Gandolfi tech^niquewith Ni-filtered CuKc
radiation (I : 1.5418A),usinga smallcrystal previ-
ously examined by single crystal methods. The
same crystal was used to collect the intensity data
for structure refinement (Mellini and Merlino,
1982). In addition, single crystal intensity data
offered a check on the indexing of the powder
pattern lines.
Table 2 compares the X-ray powder diffraction
pattern of jervisite and the synthetic scandium
analogue of aegirine, which was synthesizedby Ito
l-,-l
7 rrrm and Frondel (1968).The powder patterns, obtained
Fig. 1. Tuft in the center of the photograph is composed of by means of a Gandolfi camera with crystals previ-
platy crystals of jervisite and cascandite. ously examinedwith rotation and Weissenbergpho-

jervisite, respectively, were subsequently con-

firmed by the structure analysis. Table l. X-ray powder diffraction pattern ofcascandite
The crystals of cascanditeare pale pink platelets
with vitreous luster, elongated along [100] and Cas cand i te Cascandite

flattenedparallel to {001},with good {100}and {001}

d (A) hk1 I d(A) hkl
cleavages.The dimensionsof the platelets are up to 7-22 100 122
0.20 x 0.08 x 0.02 mm, with observedforms {001} 2.249
003
{100}, {120}, and {530} as shown in Figure 2. The 6.75 001
only optical propertiesmeasuredw€r€ n1 (: 1.663) 4.46 llo 2.220 220

and,n2 (: 1.684)on (001). 3.84 111

2.rgo
1o3

The crystals of jervisite are light green in color, 131

vitreous in luster, and have perfect (110)cleavage. 3.62 200

Their habit and dimensions are similar to those of o20 32L

cascandite. oo2 2.t54 o13

3.25 2It 221

3.14 IO2 32I

2.128
3lo

201

3.10 r21 2.060 22r

ot2 2.O40 302

o2l t.779

2,964 102 t.7t7

o12 1.688

2.924 r.642
"r2
2.82I t20 t.623

2 . 75 3 2II 1.595

72L 1.564

2lI 1.524
2.59s
tt2 L.447

2.42r 300 r.429 m

301 1.398
2.337
\ o22 I .331

212 1.296
2.300
311 1.257

Fig. 2. Typical habit of cascandite.

 MELLINI ET AL.: CASCANDITE AND IERVISITE @l

Table 2. X-ray powder difrraction pattern ofjervisite and its synthetic analogue

j ervis ite NaScSi206 syn i ervis ite NaScSi2O6 syn

d(A) hk1 I d(A) I d(A) hk1 r d(A) I

t10 w 6,52 m 312 1.714 w

o2I 1.6a9 O42 w 1,.697 m

4.51 w 4.52 m
Itl 1.647 531 m 1.645 w

3.68 111 3.68 440 t .631 a

r.573 50O w I.579 w

3.389 o21 w 3.39 u

220 u 3.25 v 351 7.564 w

3.038 22I s 3 .045 vs 602 wt

1.549
2.979 310 m 2,952 621

2.601 r31 w 2.607 1.528 4O2 w |.525 w

22I 332 w
n 2.523 1.511
002 060

400 622 t-4t| w

2.304 w 2.329
311 6ZO

tt2 260
2,233 w 2'234 w l.4J) W 1.435 w
o22 35r

330 152 w
2.t61 w 2.169 N 1,425
33r 531

2,132 421 w 2.135 243

L.397 w
2.067 04l- w 2.058 223

202 261
2.009 w
I32 7t2

247 1.984 w 533

511 w 1,916 w lro

1.336 u f.328 w
1.876

222 1.304 314 w 1.301 w

510 r.839 w 1.259 352 u 1.257 w

r32
150
1 . 77 8 w 1.778 mv
421

tographs, were indexed using single crystal diffrac-
tometer data as a check.
The unit cell parametersfor cascanditeand jervi-
site were refined by a least squares method using
the powder pattern lines and axe reported in Table
3, together with the unit cell parametersof synthetic
NaScSizOo, as given by Hawthorne and Grundy
(re73).
reported in Table 4 as oxide weight percent. It was
assumed that the iron present was Fe2+, and that
the water content in cascandite corresponded to
one molecule in the unit cell, as indicated by the
structural data discussed in the following para-
graph. In Table 4 the cell contents for jervisite and
cascandite are given, on the basis of three and two
silicon atoms in the unit cell, respectively.

Chemicalcomposition Structural and crystal chemical considerations

Two crystal fragments, identified as cascandite
and jervisite by X-ray single crystal methods, were
analyzed by electron microprobe. The standards
used in the analysis were metallic scandiumfor Sc,
analyzed actinolite for Fe, Na, Mn, Ti. Raw data
were corrected by the ulcrc IV program of J.
Colby. Three electron probe analyseswere madeon
each crystal fragment, and the average values are
The crystal structure of cascandite was deter-
mined by Mellini and Merlino (1982) and that of
jervisite by Mellini and Merlino and Rossi (to be
published). The structures refined to R values of
0.M and 0.05, resPectivelY.
Jervisite is isostructural with the synthetic phase
NaScSizOo, which was synthesized by Ito and
Frondel (1968),and whose structure was refined by
602 MELLINI ET AL,: CASCANDITE AND JERVISITE

Table 3. Unit cell paxametersof cascandite,jervisite and its serandite. host different cations in casandite:one is
synthetic analogue occupied by calcium and the other by scandium
with minor Fe2* cations. The site where sodium
cascandi te I ervis ite syn NaScSi2O6
cations are located in pectolite and serandite,has an
extremely low occupancy in cascandite(Mellini and
Space group pl C2/ c c2/c
Merlino, 1982).
a 1.s2e(r)X s.arr(tr)i s.a+:a(+)i The chemical contents reported in Table 4 can be
b 7 . O 5 1( 1 1 ) 9.o42(ro) 9 . 0 4 3 9( 4 ) conveniently expressedby the formula:
c 6 . 7 s s( 9 ) s.3r2(1) 5 . 3 s 4 (o2 )
Ca(Scs.TaMg.ozAlo.or
FeSlzMno.or)
o 92" 7'(s')
(Nao.or
Cao.o+Mns.
1sns.s5)Si308.02(OH).
0 93'4o'(s') 1 0 6 ' 3 7 r ( )7 r ro7.2L5"(2)
The crystal chemical formula that better summa-
Y 104'39' (5 ' )
rizes the chemical as well as the structural data is
ca(sc3iM35xMA5!o 8)si3o8.2(oH)0.s with M2+ :
(Fe2+,Mn2+),approximatingthe ideal composition
CaScSisOs(OH).
Hawthorne and Grundy (1973).From the chemistry
(unit cell contents) given in Table 4, (Nao.+: Conclusions
Cao.:r MNo.orFefr)eMgs.r7Scs.66 410.62 Tio.or)tot.:
r.aq The two new mineral phases, cascandite and
Si2O6.62,the following crystal chemical formula jervisite, join kolbeckite ScPOa.HzO, bazzite
may be derived on the basis of structural data: Be3(Sc,Fe)2SioOrs and thortveitite (Sc,Y)2Si2O7, as
( N a , C a , F e 2 * ) 1 S c , M g , F e z * ; S i r owui t h N a rare minerals in which scandium occurs as an
Ca,Fez*; Sc > Mg,Fe2*. Thusjervisite is a scandi- essential, major constituent. It seems remarkable
um pyroxene, that is intermediatein the Ca(Mg,Fe) that three of the four scandiumsilicateswere found
Si2O6-NaScSi2O6 series, analogousto the aegirine- in the granite of Baveno. The three other phases
augite series. with relatively high scandium content (Sc2O32-6
Cascandite is structurally related to the wolla- vtt.Vo)are: Sc-ixiolite(Ta,Nb,Sn,Mn,Fe,Sc,.. .)zO+
stonite-pectolite-serandite group. The crystal (Borisenko et al., 1969),Sc-perrierite (Ce,La,Ca)a
structure analysis clearly indicates that in cascan- (Fe2+,ScXTi,Fe3*)2Ti2(O4lSizo)z (Semenovet al.,
dite, as in pectolite and serandite, there is an 1966), magbasite KBa(A1,Sc)Fe2*Mg5F2Si6O2o
intrachain hydrogen bond. The hydrogen atom was (Semenovet al.,1965).
located by a difference Fourier synthesis. The two The rarity of scandium minerals is a result of its
octahedral sites, which are both occupied by calci- crystal chemical behavior. In fact, in the first study
um cations in pectolite and by manganesecations in of scandium geochemistry, Goldschmidt and Peter
(1931)emphasizedthat the bulk of the element is
dispersed in very small amounts among minerals
Table 4. Chemical composition of cascanditeand iervisite formed in the early stagesof magmatic differentia-
tion, mainly pyroxenes, amphiboles and biotite.
Oxide Weight per cent Element Atoms per forinula unit
cascandite jervisite cascendite jervisite Only a very small amount passesthrough the mag-
matic stage and enters pegmatitic, pneumatolitic
sio2 51.83 50.42 si 3 .O O 2.OO and hydrothermal deposits.
t"2o3 18.48 Sc o . 74 o,64
FeO 4.50 8.59 Fe o.22 o,29 Acknowledgment
0.20 2.80 o .0 2 o.t7
We are giratefulto Dr. F. C. Hawthorne for supplying crystals
Tio2 0.08 0-55 Ti o.01 o.02
of the synthetic phase NaScSizOe,that were used for compari-
A1-0- o. 11 o.42 o.o1 0.02 son. The electron microprobe at the Modena University was
l{nO 2.32 o .1 1 o.01
o.44 Mn
used in the present study and the Italian Consiglio Nazionale
CaO 16.83 7.25 1.04 o .3 1 is acknowledgedfor its installation and mainte-
Na2O o. 06 5.55 Na o.o1 o.43 l#:J.*"n"
<2.59) o 6,o2
"2o
Il^o o.5 References
Borisenko, L. F., Maksimova, N. V. and Kazakova. M. y.
(1969)Scandiumixiolite, a new tantalum-niobatespecieswith
 MELLINI ET AL.: CASCANDITE AND JERVISITE
formula (A,B)"O2". Doklady Akademie Nauk SSSR, 193,167-
t70.
Goldschmidt, V. M. and Peter, C. (1931)Zur Geochemie des
Scandium. Nachrichten von der kdniglichen Gesellschaftder
Wissenschaftenzii Gottingen-Geologie und Mineralogie IV,
257-259.
Hawthorne, F. C. and Grundy, H. D. (1973)Refinementof the
crystal structure of NaScSi2O6.Acta Crystallographica,B29,
2615-2616.
Ito, J. and Frondel, C. (196E) Syntheses of the scandium
analogues of aegirine, spodumene,andradite and melanote-
kite. American Mineralogist 53, 1276-12E0.
View publication stats
603
Mellini, M. and Merlino, S. (1982)Crystal structure of cascan-
dite. American Mineralogist 67, 604-6W.
Semenov,Y. I., Khomakov, A. P. and Bykova, A. V. (1965)
Magbasite, a new mineral. Doklady Akademie Nauk SSSR,
163,7r8Jt9.
Semenov,Yl I., Kulakov, M. P., Kostynina,M. Y., Kazakova,
M. Y. and Dudykina, A. S. (1966) Scandium content in the
quartz-fluorite pegmatites of Kazakhstan . Geol<himiya2, 244-
246.
Manuscript received,July 9, 1981;
acceptedfor publication, November 23, 1981.