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Fermiite, Na4(UO2)(SO4)3·3H2O and oppenheimerite, Na2(UO2)(SO4)2·3H2O, two new uranyl sulfate minerals from the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Anthony R. Kampf ,
Jakub Plášil ,
Anatoly V. Kasatkin ,
Joe Marty  and
Jiří Čejka
Anthony R. Kampf*
Affiliation:
Mineral Sciences Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
Jakub Plášil
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics ASCR, v.v.i., Na Slovance 1999/2, 18221 Praha 8, Czech Republic
Anatoly V. Kasatkin
Affiliation:
Fersman Mineralogical Museum of Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prospekt 18-2, 119071 Moscow, Russia
Joe Marty
Affiliation:
5199 East Silver Oak Road, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
Jiří Čejka
Affiliation:
Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, National Museum, Cirkusová 1740, 193 00 Prague 9, Czech Republic
*
*E-mail: akampf@nhm.org
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Abstract

The new minerals fermiite (IMA2014-068), Na4(UO2)(SO4)3·3H2O and oppenheimerite (IMA2014-073), Na2(UO2)(SO4)2·3H2O, were found in the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA, where they occur together as secondary alteration phases in association with blödite, bluelizardite, chalcanthite, epsomite, gypsum, hexahydrite, kröhnkite, manganoblödite, sideronatrite, tamarugite and wetherillite.

Fermiite descriptive details: pale greenish-yellow prisms; transparent; vitreous lustre; bright greenishwhite fluorescence; white streak; hardness (Mohs) 2½; brittle; conchoidal fracture; no cleavage; slightly deliquescent; easily soluble in RT H2O; densitymeas = 3.23(2) g cm–3; densitycalc = 3.313 g cm–3. Optically, biaxial (+), α = 1.527(1), β = 1.534(1), γ = 1.567(1) (white light); 2Vmeas. = 51(1)°, 2Vcalc. = 50°; dispersion r < v, distinct. Pleochroism: X, Y = colourless, Z = pale greenish yellow; X = Y < Z. Energy dispersive spectroscopic (EDS) analyses yielded the empirical formula Na3.88(U1.05O2)(S0.99O4)3(H2O)3. Fermiite is orthorhombic, Pmn21, a = 11.8407(12), b = 7.8695(5), c = 15.3255(19) Å, V = 1428.0(2) Å3 and Z = 4. The structure (R1 = 2.21% for 1951 Io > 3σI) contains [(UO2)(SO4)3] chains that are linked by bonds involving five different Na–O polyhedra to form a framework. The mineral is named for Italian-American theoretical and experimental physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi (1901–1954).

Oppenheimerite descriptive details: pale greenish-yellow prisms; transparent; vitreous lustre; bright greenish-white fluorescence; white streak; hardness (Mohs) 2½; slightly sectile; three good cleavages, {110}, {011} and {101}; irregular fracture; slightly deliquescent; easily soluble in RT H2O; densitycalc = 3.360 g cm–3. Optically, biaxial (+), α = 1.537(1), β = 1.555(1), γ = 1.594(1) (white light); 2Vmeas. = 72(2)°, 2Vcalc. = 70°; dispersion is r > v, moderate, inclined; optical orientation: X ≈ ⊥ {101}, Z ≈ [111]; pleochroism: X very pale greenish yellow, Y pale greenish yellow, Z greenish yellow; X < Y < Z. EDS analyses yielded the empirical formula Na1.94(U0.97O2)(S1.02O4)2(H2O)3. Oppenheimerite is triclinic, P1, a = 7.9576(6), b = 8.1952(6), c = 9.8051(7) Å, α = 65.967(5), β = 70.281(5), γ = 84.516(6)°, V = 549.10(8) Å3 and Z = 2. The structure (R1 = 3.07% for 2337 Io > 3σI) contains [(UO2)(SO4)2(H2O)] chains that are linked by bonds involving two different Na–O polyhedra to form a framework. The mineral is named for American theoretical physicist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967).

Keywords

fermiiteoppenheimeritenew mineraluranyl sulfatecrystal structureBlue Lizard mineUtahUSA
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 79 , Issue 5 , October 2015 , pp. 1123 - 1142
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015

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