Eur. J. Mineral.

2003, 15, 1001-1005

Tuite, γ-Ca3(PO4)2: a new mineral from the Suizhou L6 chondrite

XIANDE XIE1,*, MICHELLE E. MINITTI2, MING CHEN1, HO-KWANG MAO2, DEQIANG WANG1,
JINFU SHU2 and YINGWEI FEI2

1Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wushan, Guangzhou, 510640 China
2Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA

Abstract: Tuite, γ-Ca3(PO4)2, the high-pressure polymorph of whitlockite, was found in a shock melt v ein of the Suizhou chon-
drite. It occurs as pol ycrystalline aggregates in association with coarse-g rained aggregates of ringw oodite, majorite and
NaAlSi3O8-hollandite. These high-pressure mineral assemblages are enclosed in the f ine-grained matrix of the vein that consists
–
of majorite-pyropess garnet, metal and troilite. This new mineral is trigonal, R3 m, a = 5.258 Å, c = 18.727 Å. The tuite is colour-
less and transparent with vitreous lustre and white streak; it is uniaxial (+) with high refractive indices (ε = 1.706, ω = 1.701) and
low birefringence (0.005). Microprobe analyses of tuite yield an empirical for mula (Ca2.51Mg0.29)2.80Na0.28(P1.01O4)2. The simpli-
fied formula, Ca3(PO4)2, is the same as whitlockite outside the veins. Stronger reflections on synchrotron radiation X-ray powder
diffraction pattern of tuite are d = 2.628 (100), 2.891 (80), 1.945 (47), 1.730 (25) and 1.567(22). The figures in brackets are rela-
tive intensities. Tuite in the shock vein of this meteorite was transformed from whitlockite via a shock-produced solid-state reac-
tion, while the pressure and temperature in the shock v ein attained 23 GPa and 2000 oC. This new mineral and the mineral name
(tuite) have been appro ved by the Commission on Ne w Minerals and Mineral Names of the Inter national Mineralogical
Association.

Key-words: Suizhou meteorite, high-pressure polymorph, whitlockite, new mineral, tuite.

Introduction in meteorites has a str ucture essentially identical to that of

The anhydrous calcium phosphate, Ca 3(PO4)2, is found
in many terrestrial and e xtraterrestrial materials including
meteorites, lunar rocks and eucrites (Grif fin et al., 1972;
Buchwald, 1984; Delane y et al., 1984; Lundber g et al.,
1988; Heide & Wlotzka, 1995). Ho wever, there is some
controversy over the mineral names of this anhydrous phos-
phate, in w hich whitlockite or mer rillite was used in
different studies (Mason, 1971; Calvo & Gopal, 1975;
Nickel & Nichols, 1991; Rubin, 1997). In our earlier publi-
cations, we used the name w hitlockite to describe this
mineral in the Suizhou meteorite (Xie et al., 2001a, 2001b),
but the name merrillite was used in another paper according
to the advice of a referee (Xie et al., 2002). Recently, the
chairman of the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral
Names (CNMMN) of the Inter national Mineralogical
Association (IMA), Dr. J. Grice, emphasized that the name
‘merrillite’ was never approved by IMA and the name whit-
lockite should be used (pers. comm.).
It was pointed out that the compound Ca 3(PO4)2 has
four polymorphs including ´α-, α-, β-, and γ-phases, in
which the β-phase is stab le at ambient conditions, the
γ-phase at high pressure, and the ´α- and α-phases at high
temperatures (Sugiyama & Tokonami, 1987). Whitlockite
synthetic β-Ca3(PO4)2 (Gopal & Calv o,1972; Prewitt &
Rothbard, 1975; Dowty, 1977). The γ-Ca3(PO4)2 was first
obtained experimentally as the product of decomposition of
apatite by Murayama et al. (1986) at about 12 GP a and up
to 2300°C. The structure of synthesized γ-Ca3(PO4)2 was
subsequently determined by Sugiyama & Tokonami
(1987). Recently, we reported the f irst natural occur rence
of a high-pressure pol ymorph of whitlockite in the shock
melt vein of the Suizhou L6 chondrite, which has the same
structure as γ-Ca3(PO4)2 (Xie et al., 2001c, 2002). The
mineral name (tuite) of this new phase have been approved
by CNMMN of IMA. The name tuite is after Professor
Guangzhi Tu, the founding director of the Institute of
Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences and f irst
President of the Chinese Society of Mineralo gy, Petrology
and Geochemistry, in honour of his g reat contribution to
geochemistry research and his pioneering work in studying
Chinese meteorites. The type material is deposited in the
Geological Museum of the Guangzhou Institute of
Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
This paper describes the natural occur rence, physical
and optical proper ties, chemical composition, cr ystallog-
raphy and possible formation mechanism of this new high-
pressure phase in the Suizhou meteorite.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed (xdxie@gis.sti.gd.cn).

0935-1221/03/0015-1001 $ 2.25
DOI: 10.1127/0935-1221/2003/0015-1001 © 2003 E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. D-70176 Stuttgart