Bobtraillite from Gejiu hyperagpaitic nepheline syenite, southwestern China: new occurrence and crystal structure

A second occurrence of bobtraillite is described from the Gejiu nepheline syenite, southwestern China. The extremely rare and complex boron-bearing zirconium silicate is associated with albite, orthoclase, jadeite, fluorite, andradite, titanite, as well as other REE and zirconium-bearing minerals, catapleiite, moxuanxueite, låvenite, eudialyte, britholite-(Ce), and calcioancylite-(La). The EMP and LA-ICP-MS analyses of the studied material give an empirical formula: (Nainline-formula_9.70Liinline-formula_0.42Kinline-formula_0.08□_1.80)inline-formula_Σ12.00(Srinline-formula_10.61Cainline-formula_1.14Feinline-formula_0.07□_0.18)inline-formula_Σ12.00(Zrinline-formula_12.87Tiinline-formula_0.53Nbinline-formula_0.31REEinline-formula_0.08Yinline-formula_0.06Uinline-formula_0.02Thinline-formula_0.01□_0.12)inline-formula_Σ14.00(Siinline-formula_42.41Binline-formula_5.59Alinline-formula_0.02)inline-formula_Σ48.02Oinline-formula₁₃₂(OH)inline-formula₁₂ inline-formulaRadical⚫ 12Hinline-formula₂O. Bobtraillite is trigonal, with space group inline-formula $M25inlinescrollmathmlP\stackrel{normal\; ¯}{\mathrm{normal\; 3}}c$ 23pt12ptsvg-formulamathimg3c1302eaea2aa69cf43c4367df4d285f ejm-35-65-2023-ie00001.svg23pt12ptejm-35-65-2023-ie00001.png 1, inline-formulaa=19.6977(6), inline-formulac=9.9770(3) Å, inline-formulaV=3352.4(2) Åinline-formula³, inline-formulaZ=1. Single-crystal structure refinement revealed that all sodium occupies the Na(1) and Na(2) sites; the site occupancy of these two positions is 0.835(18) and 0.15(2), respectively, suggesting that Na(1) site is Na dominant, while Na(2) is a vacancy-dominant site. The [8]-coordinated site has been assigned to Sr and Ca, with free occupancy factors, 0.874(10) and 0.126(10), respectively. These new data indicate that the ideal formula of bobtraillite could be written as (Na,inline-formula□)inline-formula₁₂(inline-formula□,Na)inline-formula₁₂Srinline-formula₁₂Zrinline-formula₁₄(Siinline-formula₃Oinline-formula₉)inline-formula₁₀[Siinline-formula₂BOinline-formula₇(OH)inline-formula₂]inline-formula₆ inline-formulaRadical⚫ 12Hinline-formula₂O.