The discreditation of oboyerite and a note on the crystal structure of plumbotellurite

Owen P. Missen, Michael S. Rumsey, Anthony R. Kampf, Stuart J. Mills, Malcolm E. Back, John Spratt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)791-797
Number of pages7
JournalMineralogical Magazine
Volume83
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Arizona
  • Cochise County
  • discreditation
  • Grand Central mine
  • plumbotellurite
  • soboyerite
  • tellurate
  • tellurite
  • tellurium oxysalt
  • Tombstone
  • USA

Cite this