Introduction
Fluorine-rich amphibole-group minerals may be more
common than is generally recognized. Significant fluorine
contents in amphiboles are reported since about a century
(e.g. Doelter, 1914). An examination of the mineral-chem-
istry of amphiboles based on literature data done by
Petersen et al. (1982) revealed a number of amphiboles in
which X
F
= F/(F+OH) is higher than 0.50. Since this publi-
cation, nine fluoro-members of the amphibole group have
been accepted by the IMA-CNMMN and published. Three
of them are members of the calcic-amphibole group: fluor-
cannilloite (Hawthorne et al., 1996), fluoro-edenite
(Gianfagna & Oberti, 2001) and fluoropargasite
(Lupulescu et al., 2005).
High fluorine content in magnesiohastingsite is rarely
reported. Forty-one magnesiohastingsite and hastingsite
analyses are reported in Deer et al. (1997) but only five of
them have significant fluorine-contents (X
F
> 0.25), and
none of them have X
F
> 0.50. Gaeta & Freda (2001)
reported strontian fluoro-magnesiohastingsite from Alban
Hills (Central Italy) with X
F
up to 0.787. These submilli-
metric fluoro-magnesiohastingsite crystals are poikilitic
with numerous inclusions. Therefore they were not suitable
for crystallographic investigations.
The fluoro-magnesiohastingsite described in this paper
has been approved by the Commission on New Mineral and
Mineral Names of the International Mineralogical
Association (#2005-002). The type material is deposited at
the Department of Mineralogy of the Landesmuseum
Eur. J. Mineral.
2006, 18, 503-508
Fluoro-magnesiohastingsite from Dealul Uroi
(Hunedoara county, Romania): Mineral data and crystal structure
of a new amphibole end-member
HANS-PETER BOJAR
1,
* and FRANZ WALTER
2
1
Department of Mineralogy, Landesmuseum Joanneum, Raubergasse 10, A-8010 Graz, Austria
2
Institute of Earth Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010 Graz, Austria
Abstract: The new mineral fluoro-magnesiohastingsite, ideally (Na,K,Ca)Ca
2
(Mg,Fe
3+
,Al,Ti)
5
(Si,Al)
8
O
22
F
2
, a member of the
calcic-amphibole-group, occurs in small cavities of an altered hematite-rich xenolith in the quaternary trachyandesite at Dealul
Uroi, Hunedoara county, Romania. Associated minerals are: titaniferous hematite, augite, phlogopite, enstatite, feldspar, tridymite,
titanite, fluorapatite, ilmenite and pseudobrookite. The mineral is reddish-brown to yellowish, with a light reddish-brown streak,
and has a perfect {110} cleavage. The tenacity is brittle and the Mohs hardness is 6. Optically the mineral is biaxial (+) and weakly
pleochroic, α = 1.642 (yellow-brown), β = 1.647 (light brown), γ = 1.662 (light brown) at 589 nm 2V (meas. and calc.) is 61°,
dispersion was not observed. The orientation of β is parallel to b. The axial plane is (010) (γ ^ c = 26º). It is monoclinic, C2/m,
with the unit-cell parameters a = 9.871(1) Å, b = 18.006(2) Å, c = 5.314(1) Å, β = 105.37(1)°, V = 910.7(2) Å
3
, Z = 2. The calcu-
lated density is 3.18 g/cm
3
. The strongest lines in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern (d
obs
in Å, (hkl), I) are: 9.008, (020), 27;
8.421, (110), 61; 3.377, (131), 44; 3.271, (240), 61; 3.124, (310), 100; 2.932, (221), 35; 2.805, (330), 28; 2.700, (151), 54.
The crystal structure of fluoro-magnesiohastingsite was refined to R(F) = 0.054 using reflection intensities collected with
MoKα X-radiation. Refined site-scattering values and considerations of mean bond lengths demonstrated an ordering of Fe
3+
at
M2. Electron-microprobe data and the A site-scattering values show significant Ca (0.19 apfu) together with K and Na at the Am
and A2 sites. The site-scattering value and bond-length of O3 to cations indicate that this site is occupied by F, which was indi-
rectly confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. The emp-analyses correspond to the empirical formula:
A
(Na
0.50
K
0.22
Ca
0.17
)
0.89
B
Ca
2.00
C
(Mg
4.03
Fe
3+
0.70
Al
0.13
Ti
0.13
)
4.99
T
(Si
5.89
Al
2.11
)
8.00
O
22.00
F
2.00
.
Most companion minerals of fluoro-magnesiohastingsite containing fluorine, like phlogopite, fluorapatite and chondrodite,
have a X
F
= F/(F+OH) > 0.79. Amphiboles of the hosting trachyandesite are fluoro-members (fluoro-edenite to fluoro-magnesio-
hastingsite) as well but they have a more variable Si/Al-ratio as the xenolith-hosted fluoro-magnesiohastingsites.
Key-words: fluoro-magnesiohastingsite, new mineral, amphibole group, crystal structure, Dealul Uroi, Romania.
0935-1221/06/0018-0503 $ 2.70
© 2006 E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. D-70176 Stuttgart DOI: 10.1127/0935-1221/2006/0018-0503
*E-mail: hans-peter.bojar@stmk.gv.at