• journal_title：Mineralogical Magazine
• Contributor：D. K. Teertstra ; M. Schindler ; Barbara L. Sherriff ; Frank C. Hawthorne
• Publisher：Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
• Date：1999-
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• journal_abbrev：Mineralogical Magazine
• issn：0026-461X
• volume：63
• issue：3
• firstpage：321
• section：Articles

Silvialite, ideally Ca ₄ Al ₆ Si ₆ O ₂₄ SO ₄ , is tetragonal, I4/m, Z = 2, with a = 12.160(3), c = 7.560(1) Aa, V = 1117.9(8) Aa ³ , c:a = 0.6217:1, omega = 1.583, epsilon = 1.558 (uniaxial negative), D _m = 2.75 g/cm ³ , D _calc = 2.769 g/cm ³ and H (Mohs) = 5.5. It is transparent and slightly yellow, has a good {100} cleavage, chonchoidal fracture, white streak and a vitreous lustre. It occurs in upper-mantle garnet-granulite xenoliths hosted by olivine nephelinite, from McBride Province, North Queensland, Australia. The empirical formula, derived from electron-microprobe analysis, is (Na (sub 1.06) Ca (sub 2.86) )(Al (sub 4.87) Si (sub 7.13) )O ₂₄ [(SO ₄ ) (sub 0.57) (CO ₃ ) (sub 0.41) ]. Crystal-structure refinement shows disordered carbonate and sulfate groups along the fourfold axis. Silvialite is a primary cumulate phase precipitated from alkali basalt at 900-1000 degrees C and 8-12 kbar under high f _SO2 and f _O2 . The name silvialite, currently used in literature to describe the sulfate analogue of meionite, was suggested by Brauns (1914).