Single-crystal X-ray diffraction study of synthetic sodium-hydronium jarosite
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Author(s)
Najorka, J
Lewis, JMT
Spratt, J
Sephton, MA
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Na–H3O jarosite was synthesized hydrothermally at 413 K for 8 days and investigated using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron microprobe analysis (EMPA). The chemical composition of the studied crystal is [Na0.57(3) (H3O)0.36 (H2O)0.07]A Fe2.93(3) (SO4)2 (OH)5.70 (H2O)0.30, and Fe deficiency was confirmed by both EMPA and XRD analysis. The single-crystal XRD data were collected at 298 and 102 K, and crystal structures were refined in space group R3¯¯¯mR3¯m . The room-temperature data match structural trends of the jarosite group, which vary linearly with the c axis. The low-temperature structure at 102 K shows an anisotropic decrease in the unit cell parameters, with c and a decreasing by 0.45 and 0.03 %, respectively. Structural changes are mainly confined to the A site environment. Only minor changes occur in FeO6 and SO4 polyhedra. The structure responds upon cooling by increasing bond length distortion and by decreasing quadratic elongation of the large AO12 polyhedra. The structural parameters at low temperature follow very similar patterns to structural changes that correspond to compositional variation in the jarosite group, which is characterised by the flexibility of AO12 polyhedra and rigidity of Fe(OH)4O2–SO4 layers. The most flexible areas in the jarosite structure are localized at AO12 edges that are not shared with neighbouring FeO6 octahedra. Importantly, for the application of XRD in planetary settings, the temperature-related changes in jarosite can mimic compositional change.
Date Issued
2016-02-24
Date Acceptance
2016-01-21
Citation
Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, 2016, 43 (5), pp.377-386
ISSN
1432-2021
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
377
End Page
386
Journal / Book Title
Physics and Chemistry of Minerals
Volume
43
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Physical Sciences
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Mineralogy
Materials Science
Natrojarosite
Hydronium jarosite
Crystal structure
Single-crystal X-ray diffraction
Low temperature
Mars
SOLID-SOLUTION SERIES
ALUNITE SUPERGROUP
NMR-SPECTROSCOPY
CHEMISTRY
NATROJAROSITE
ENVIRONMENTS
Geochemistry & Geophysics
0402 Geochemistry
0912 Materials Engineering
Publication Status
Published