The distribution of cations between tetrahedral (A) sites and octahedral (B) sites in ferrite spinels has been studied using K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The samples include natural and synthetic end-member magnetites (Fe₃O₄), a natural Mn- and Zn-rich magnetite (franklinite) and synthetic binary, ternary and quaternary ferrites of stoichiometry M(²+)M₂(³+)O₄, where M(²+) = Mg, Co, Ni, Zn and M(³+) = Fe, Al. XAS data were obtained for all metals. Complete, unfiltered, EXAFS spectra were refined to determine the percentage distribution of each element over the A and B sites and these data were combined with microprobe analyses to quantify the tetrahedral occupancy for each element in each sample. Measured site occupancies and an internally consistent set of (M-O)(A) and (M-O)(B) bond lengths were used to calculate unit-cell parameters, which show excellent agreement with measured values, pointing to the reliability of the measured occupancy factors. The average occupancies determined for the tetrahedral sites in ferrites are (atoms per formula unit) Mg 0.44, Co 0.24, Ni 0.11, Zn 0.76, Al 0.11 and Fe(³+) 0.92-0.19. The wide range found for Fe(³+) is consistent with it playing a relatively passive role by making good any A-site deficit left by the other competing cations.

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The chemical composition oft he natural arsenate-apatite mineral johnbaumite [nominally Ca10(AsO4)6(OH)2] and its alteration product hedyphane [Ca4Pb6(AsO4)6Cl2] have been determined by electron microprobe analysis and the structures ofjohnbaumite and synthetic Sr-, Ba- and Pbarsenate apatites have been studied by As K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. All samples belong to the holosymmetric apatite space group P63/m with As5+ substituted for P5+ in the tetrahedral structural site. Johnbaumite contains small amounts ofF and Pb (~0.9 and ~4.4 wt.% respectively) and hedyphane has the ideal composition (formula given above); the compositions of these coexisting phases define the two limbs ofa solvus occurring between Ca- and Pb-arsenate apatite end members. The unit-cell parameters and cation–oxygen bond lengths for the arsenate apatites studied are discussed alongside published data for end-member Ca-, Sr-, Ba- and Pbphosphate apatite analogues with (OH), F, Cl or Br as the anions at the centres of the channels in the apatite structure. This discussion rationalizes the relationships between the two structural sites A(1) and A(2) occupied by divalent cations in terms of the size of the A–O polyhedra and the distortion of the A(1)–O polyhedron as measured by the metaprism twist angle [O(1)–A(1)–O(2) projected onto (001)].

Djerfisherite [K 6 (Cu,Fe,Ni) 25 S 26 Cl] has been found as a daughter mineral in melt inclusions in melilite from a Kugda melilitolite. The inclusion mineral assemblage includes pyrrhotite, pentlandite, forsterite, diopside, monticellite, phlogopite, wollastonite, nepheline, sodalite, combeite, calcite, Na-K-Ca carbonate, and hydrated calcium silicates. The djerfisherite is Ni-rich rather than Cu-rich consistent with an ultimate upper mantle magma source. The djerfisherite-bearing assemblage formed from primary carbonate/alkali-rich, melilititic melt inclusions which underwent extreme, closed-system, magmatic to postmagmatic fractionation over a temperature range of >10008 to <5008C.