Cymrite, BaAl
2Si
2O
8 ·
nH
2O, is a rare mineral formed during low-grade dynamothermal metamorphism (
T = 250–300°C,
P = 1–3 kbar). Cymrite has been described from many metasedimentary ores and hydrothermal rocks. In carbonatites, it has been
found for the first time. Cymrite has been identified in the Kovdor and Seblyavr massifs, Kola Peninsula. In Kovdor, this
mineral has been described from one of the hydrothermal veins cutting the pyroxenite-melilitite-ijolite complex at the Phlogopite
deposit; cymrite is associated with thomsonite, calcite, and stivensite. In the Seblyavr pluton, cymrite occurs in thin veins
of calcite carbonatite that cut pyroxenite contacting with ijolite. Cymrite from the Seblyavr pluton is associated with calcite,
natrolite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. The mineral is optically negative and uniaxial, with extinction parallel to elongation;
ω ∼ 1.607(1). According to X-ray diffraction data, cymrite from Seblyavr is monoclinic, space group
P1
m1; unit-cell dimensions are:
a = 5.33,
b = 36.96,
c = 7.66 Å, β = 90°,
V = 1510.55 Å
3. According to the results of IR spectroscopy, in the series of samples from different massifs (in the running order Kovdor-Voishor-Seblyavr),
the double-layer deformation is enhanced and accompanied by a decrease in the Si-O-Si angle and weakening of hydrogen bonds
of interlayer water. The empirical formulas of cymrite calculated from electron microprobe analyses are Ba
0.93–0.95Ca
0.01–0.02K
0.00–0.05Na
0.02–0.04Al
1.97–2.01Si
1.99–2.03O
8(H
2O) and Ba
1.00–1.02Ca
0.00–0.01Sr
0.00–0.01Fe
0.00–0.01Al
1.94–2.00Si
1.98–2.03O
8(H
2O) at Seblyavr and Kovdor, respectively. Cymrite from the carbonatite massifs of the Kola Peninsula was formed under hydrothermal
conditions at low temperature (200–300°C), high activity of Ba and Si, and high water pressure. At Kovdor, the mineral crystallized
directly from the residual solution enriched in Ba. The sequence of mineral deposition is as follows: thomsonite-cymrite-calcite-stevensite.
Cymrite from the Seblyavr pluton is a product of hydrothermal alteration of primary Na-K-Ba silicates of ijolite: nepheline,
feldspar, and probably celsian. Natrolite replaces cymrite indicating high alkalinity of late hydrothermal fluids.
Original Russian Text © N.V. Sorokhtina, N.V. Chukanov, A.V. Voloshin, Ya.A. Pakhomovsky, A.N. Bogdanova, M.M. Moiseev, 2007,
published in Zapiski Rossiiskogo Mineralogicheskogo Obshchestva, 2007, No. 4, pp. 102–108.