Volume 51, Number 8, 767-773, DOI: 10.1134/S1075701509080091

Droninoite, Ni3Fe3+Cl(OH)8 · 2H2O, a new hydrotalcite-group mineral species from the weathered Dronino meteorite

N. V. Chukanov, I. V. Pekov, L. A. Levitskaya and A. E. Zadov

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Abstract

A new mineral, droninoite, was found in a fragment of a weathered Dronino iron meteorite (which fell near the village of Dronino, Kasimov district, Ryazan oblast, Russia) as dark green to brown fine-grained (the size of single grains is not larger than 1 μm) segregations up to 0.15 × 1 × 1 mm in size associated with taenite, violarite, troilite, chromite, goethite, lepidocrocite, nickelbischofite, and amorphous Fe3+ hydroxides. The mineral was named after its type locality. Aggregates of droninoite are earthy and soft; the Mohs hardness is 1–1.5. The calculated density is 2.857 g/cm3. Under a microscope, droninoite is dark gray-green and nonpleochroic. The mean (cooperative for fine-grained aggregate) refractive index is 1.72(1). The IR spectrum indicates the absence of S O42− and C O32− anions. Chemical composition (electron microprobe, partition of total iron into Fe2+ and Fe3+ made on the basis of the ratio (Ni + Fe2+): Fe3+ = 3: 1; water is calculated from the difference) is as follows, wt %: 36.45 NiO, 12.15 FeO, 17.55 Fe2O3, 23.78 H2O, 13.01 Cl, −O=Cl2 −2.94, total is 100.00. The empirical formula (Z = 6) is Ni2.16Fe0.752+Fe0.973+Cl1.62(OH)7.10 · 2.28H2O. The simplified formula is Ni3Fe3+Cl(OH)8 · 2H2O. Droninoite is trigonal, space group R $ \bar 3 $ \bar 3 m, R3m, or R32; a = 6.206(2), c = 46.184(18) Å; V = 1540.4(8) Å3. The strong reflections in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern [d, Å (I, %) (hkl)] are 7.76(100)(006), 3.88(40)(0.0.12), 2.64(25)(202, 024), 2.32(20)(0.2.10), 1.965(0.2.16). The holotype specimen is deposited at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, registration number 3676/1.
Original Russian Text © N.V. Chukanov, I.V. Pekov, L.A. Levitskaya, A.E. Zadov, 2009, published in Zapiski RMO (Proceedings of the Russian Mineralogical Society), 2009, Pt. CXXXVII, No. 6, pp. 38–46.
Considered and recommended by the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names, Russian Mineralogical Society, and Approved by the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names, International Mineralogical Association, April 1, 2008, IMA no. 2008-003

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