Żabińskiite, ideally Ca(Al0.5Ta0.5)(SiO4)O, a new mineral of the titanite group from the Piława Górna pegmatite, the Góry Sowie Block, southwestern Poland. (1st May 2017) - Pieczka, Adam
Żabińskiite, ideally Ca(Al0.5Ta0.5)(SiO4)O, was found in a Variscan granitic pegmatite at Piława Górna, Lower Silesia, SW Poland. The mineral occurs along with (Al, Ta, Nb)- and (Al, F)-bearing titanites, a pyrochlore-supergroup mineral and a K-mica in compositionally inhomogeneous aggregates, ∼120 μm × 70 μm in size, in a fractured crystal of zircon intergrown with polycrase-(Y) and euxenite-(Y). Żabińskiite is transparent, brittle, brownish, with a white streak, vitreous lustre and a Mohs hardness of ∼5. The calculated density for the refined crystal is equal to 3.897 g cm–3, but depends strongly on composition. The mineral is non-pleochroic, biaxial (–), with mean refractive indices ≥1.89. The (Al, Ta, Nb)-richest żabińskiite crystal, (Ca0.980Na0.015)∑=0.995(Al0.340Fe3+0.029Ti0.298V0.001Zr0.001Sn0.005Ta0.251Nb0.081)∑=1.005[(Si0.988Al0.012)O4.946F0.047(OH)0.007)∑=5.000]; 60.7 mol.% Ca[Al0.5(Ta, Nb)0.5](SiO4)O; is close in composition to previously described synthetic material. Żabińskiite is triclinic (space group symmetry A1) and has unit-cell parameters a = 7.031(2) Å, b = 8.692(2) Å, c = 6.561(2) Å, α = 89.712(11)°, β = 113.830(13)°, γ = 90.352(12)° and V = 366.77 (11) Å3. It is isostructural with triclinic titanite and bond-topologically identical with titanite and other minerals of the titanite group. Żabińskiite crystallized along with (Al, Ta, Nb)-bearing titanites at increasing Ti and Nb, and decreasing Ta activities, almost coevally with polycrase-(Y) and euxenite-(Y) from Ca-contaminated fluxed melts or early hydrothermal fluids.