Abstract
The mineral 'oboyerite', first described in 1979 from the Grand Central mine, Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona, USA, has been re-examined. The type specimen from the Natural History Museum, London and a specimen from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (traceable to S. A Williams, who first described 'oboyerite') were analysed in this study. The discreditation of 'oboyerite' as a valid mineral species has been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (Proposal 19-D). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, electron probe microanalysis and scanning electron microscopy were all employed to show that 'oboyerite' is formed of at least two distinct phases, including the lead-tellurium oxysalt minerals ottoite and plumbotellurite. During the course of the discreditation, plumbotellurite was confirmed to be identical to the synthetic compound α-Pb2+Te4+O3. Previously, in some mineralogical literature plumbotellurite was described as orthorhombic with no known crystal structure.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 791-797 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Mineralogical Magazine |
Volume | 83 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- Arizona
- Cochise County
- discreditation
- Grand Central mine
- plumbotellurite
- soboyerite
- tellurate
- tellurite
- tellurium oxysalt
- Tombstone
- USA
Equipment
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Australian Synchrotron
Office of the Vice-Provost (Research and Research Infrastructure)Facility/equipment: Facility
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Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM)
Flame Sorrell (Manager) & Peter Miller (Manager)
Office of the Vice-Provost (Research and Research Infrastructure)Facility/equipment: Facility