Two new barium-bearing minerals: gurimite,
Ba3(VO4)2 (IMA2013-032) and hexacelsian,
BaAl2Si2O8 (IMA2015-045) were discovered
in veins of paralava cutting gehlenite-flamite hornfels located in the Gurim
Anticline in the Negev Desert, Israel. Gurimite and hexacelsian occur in
oval polymineralic inclusions in paralava and are associated with gehlenite,
pseudowollastonite or wollastonite, rankinite, flamite, larnite,
schorlomite, andradite, fluorapatite, fluorellestadite, kalsilite,
cuspidine, aradite, zadovite and khesinite. Gurimite and hexacelsian form
elongate crystals <10 μm thick. The minerals are colourless and
transparent with a white streak and vitreous lustre, and have (0001)
cleavage, respectively good in gurimite and very good in hexacelsian.
Fracture is irregular. Density calculated using empirical formulas gave
5.044 g cm–3 for gurimite and 3.305 g cm–3 for
hexacelsian. Mean refractive indexes, 1.945 and 1.561, respectively, were
also calculated using the empirical formulas and the Gladstone-Dale
relationship. The minerals are uniaxial and nonpleochroic. The following
empirical crystal chemical formulae were assigned to holotype gurimite:
(Ba2.794K0.092Ca0.084Na0.033Sr0.017)∑3.020(V1.8275+S0.0916+P0.0515+Al0.040Si0.005Fe0.0053+)∑2.017O8,and holotype hexacelsian:
(Ba0.911K0.059Ca0.042Na0.010)∑1.022Al1.891Fe0.0723+Si2.034O8. The Raman spectrum of
hexacelsian is similar to the one of the synthetic disordered
β-BaAl2Si2O8. The Raman spectrum of
gurimite is identical to that of synthetic
Ba3(VO4)2. The electron back-scattered
diffraction (EBSD) pattern of gurimite was fitted to the structure of its
synthetic analogue with the cell parameters of
R3m, a =
5.784(1),c = 21.132(1) Å, V = 612.2(2)
Å3, Z = 3, giving a mean angular deviation =
0.43° (good fit). The Raman spectra of hexacelsian and its EBSD pattern
suggest that natural hexacelsian corresponds to disordered synthetic
β-hexacelsian P63/mcm,
a = 5.2920(4) Å, c = 15.557(2) Å, α = β
= 90°, γ = 120°. We suggest that after relatively fast crystallization of
the main constituents of the paralava, gurimite, hexacelsian and also other
Ba-bearing phases crystallized from residual melt enriched in incompatible
elements that filled interstices between crystals of the main
constituents.