Lead–tellurium
oxysalts from Otto Mountain
near Baker, California:
XI. Eckhardite, (Ca,Pb)Cu2+Te6+O5(H2O),
a new mineral with HCP stair-step layers
Kampf AR,
Mineral
Sciences Department, Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County,
900
Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
Stuart J. Mills
Geosciences, Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666,
Melbourne 3001, Victoria, Australia
Housley RM, George R. Rossman
Division
of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of
Technology,
Pasadena,
California 91125-2500, USA
Joseph Marty
5199 E. Silver Oak
Road, Salt Lake City, UT
84108, USA
Brent Throne
3898 S. Newport Circle, Bountiful,
UT 84010, USA
Abstract
Eckhardite,
(Ca,Pb)Cu2+Te6+O5(H2O), is
a new tellurate mineral from Otto Mountain near Baker, California,
U.S.A.
It occurs in vugs in quartz in association with Br-rich
chlorargyrite, gold, housleyite, khinite, markcooperite, and ottoite. It is
interpreted as having formed from the partial oxidation of primary sulfides and
tellurides during or following brecciation of quartz veins. Eckhardite is monoclinic,
space group P21/n, with unit cell dimensions a
= 8.1606(8), b = 5.3076(6), c = 11.4412(15)
Å, β = 101.549(7)°, V = 485.52(10) Å3, and Z = 4. It forms as needles or blades
up to about 150 x 15 x 5 µm in size, typically in radial or sub-radial
aggregates, but also as isolated needles. The color is light bluish green and
the streak is very pale bluish green. Crystals
are transparent with vitreous to subadamantine luster. The Mohs hardness is
estimated at between 2 and 3. Eckhardite is brittle with an irregular fracture
and one likely (but not observed) cleavage on {101}. The calculated density
based on the empirical formula is 4.644 g cm-3. The mineral is biaxial (–), with indices of refraction of α = 1.
770 (calc), β = 1.860 (calc), and γ = 1.895(5). The measured 2V is 61.2(5)°, dispersion is r < v, perceptible and the optical orientation is Z = b; X ≈ [101]. The pleochroism is: Z (light blue green) < Y (very pale blue green) < X (colorless). The normalized electron
microprobe analyses (average of 4) provided: PbO 4.79, CaO 15.90, MgO 0.06, CuO
22.74, Fe2O3 0.06, TeO3 51.01, H2O 5.45
(structure), total 100 wt%. The
empirical formula (based on 6 O atoms pfu)
is: Ca0.962Pb0.073Cu2+0.971Mg0.005Fe3+0.002Te6+0.986O6H2.052.
The Raman spectrum exhibits prominent features consistent with the mineral
being a tellurate, as well as an OH bending feature confirming a hydrous
component. The eight strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines are [dobs
in Å (hkl) I]: 5.94 (101) 100, 3.287 (112) 80, 2.645 (020,-213) 89, 2.485 (-114,301,014)
48, 2.245 (114,122) 46, 1.809 (223,-413,321,-404) 40, 1.522 (413,-512,421,133) 42,
and 1.53 (-217,-233,-406) 43. The crystal structure of eckhardite (R1 = 0.046 for 586
reflections with Fo > 4sF) consists of stair-step-like octahedral
layers of Te6+O6 and Cu2+O6
octahedra parallel to {101}, which are linked in the [10-1] direction by bonds
to interlayer (Ca,Pb) atoms. The structure can be described as a stacking of
stepped HCP layers alternating with chains of (Ca,Pb)O7 polyhedra.
The structures of bairdite, timroseite and paratimroseite also contain stair-step-like
HCP polyhedral layers.