Sergeysmirnovite, MgZn2(PO4)2 · 4H2O, a New Mineral from the Kester Deposit (Sakha-Yakutia, Russia)

• Published in: Doklady earth sciences Vol. 505; no. 2; pp. 549 - 552
• Main Authors: Yakovenchuk, V. N., Pakhomovsky, Y. A., Konopleva, N. G., Panikorovskii, T. L., Bazai, A. V., Mikhailova, J. A., Bocharov, V. N., Krivovichev, S. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.08.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Crystal growth; Crystals; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Fluorapatite; Geologists; Mineral deposits; Mineralogy; Minerals; Oxidation; Phosphates; Unit cell; X ray powder diffraction; X rays; X-ray diffraction; Northeastern Yakutia; phosphates; sergeysmirnovite; new mineral; Kester deposit; secondary mineralization
• ISSN: 1028-334X; 1531-8354
• DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X22080177

Sergeysmirnovite, MgZn 2 (PO 4 ) 2 · 4H 2 O, is a new mineral from the oxidation zone of the Kester mineral deposit, Sakha-Yakutia, Russia. This mineral forms tabular colorless crystals growing on quartz and fluorapatite aggregates in association with pseudomalachite, libethenite, native copper, a Na-analogue of batagayite, arsenolite, tobermorite, epifanovite, and batagayite. The mineral is orthorhombic, with the space group Pnma . The unit cell parameters refined from powder X-ray diffraction data are the following: a = 10.5957(6) Å, b = 18.365(1) Å, c = 5.0320(4) Å, V = 979.16 (8) Å 3 . The eight most intense powder X-ray diffraction lines are the following ( I - d [Å]- hkl ): 100-5.28-200; 33-4.576-040; 24-3.999-230; 24-3.877-031; 22-3.387-221; 44-3.015-250; 57-2.854-311; 34-2.647-400. Sergeysmirnovite belongs to the hopeite group and is dimorphous with reaphookhillite. The mineral is named in honor of famous Soviet geologist, Academician Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov (1895–1947), a renowned specialist in the mineralogy of ore deposits.