Extra-Framework Content in Sodalite-Group Minerals: Complexity and New Aspects of Its Study Using Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy
Н. В. Чуканов, М. Ф. Вигасина, Natalia V. Zubkova, Igor V. Pekov, Christof Schäfer, Anatoly V. Kasatkin, Vasiliy O. Yapaskurt, D.Y. Pushcharovsky
Abstract
Nine samples of carbonate-free sodalite-group minerals, including those with abnormally high contents of polysulfide groups, fluoride anion and carbon dioxide molecules as well as synthetic fluoraluminate sodalite-type compound Na8(Si7Al5O24)(AlF6)3–·5H2O, have been studied by means of electron microprobe analyses, infrared and Raman spectroscopy; the CO2 content was determined using the selective sorption of gaseous ignition products. This article describes a semi-quantitative method for estimating the content of carbon dioxide molecules in these minerals, based on IR spectroscopy data. The data obtained demonstrate the existence of a sulfide sodalite-group mineral with the idealized formula Na7(Si6Al6O24)(S3−)·H2O, which differs significantly from the formula Na6Ca2(Si6Al6O24)S2–2 accepted for lazurite. According to single-crystal X-ray structural analysis, in the F-rich sodalite-group mineral from the Eifel paleovolcanic region, Germany with the idealized formula Na7(Si6Al6O24)F−·nH2O fluorine occurs as an isolated F− anion, unlike synthetic F-rich sodalite-type compounds.