Allabogdanite, the high-pressure polymorph of (Fe,Ni)2P, a stishovite-grade indicator of impact processes in the Fe-Ni-P system.

Allabogdanite, (Fe,Ni)2P, is the only known natural high-pressure phase reported in the Fe-Ni-P system. The mineral, which was previously described from a single meteorite, the Onello iron, is now discovered in the Santa Catharina and Barbianello nickel-rich ataxites. The occurrence of allabogdanite in Santa Catharina, one of the largest and well-studied meteorites, suggests that this mineral is more common than was believed. The formation of allabogdanite-bearing phosphide assemblages in a given meteorite provides evidence that it experienced peak pressure of at least 8 GPa at a temperature above 800 °C. Since the pressure-temperature stability parameters of allabogdanite fall within the margins of the stishovite (rutile-type SiO2) stability area, the former can be employed as a convenient stishovite-grade indicator of significant impact events experienced by iron and stony-iron meteorites and their parent bodies.

Incommensurately modulated twin structure of nyerereite Na1.64K0.36Ca(CO3)2.

The incommensurately modulated twin structure of nyerereite Na1.64K0.36Ca(CO3)2 has been first determined in the (3 + 1)-dimensional symmetry group Cmcm(α00)00s with modulation vector q = 0.383a*. Unit-cell values are a = 5.062 (1), b = 8.790 (1), c = 12.744 (1) Å. Three orthorhombic components are related by threefold rotation about [001]. Discontinuous crenel functions are used to describe the occupation modulation of Ca and some CO3 groups. The strong displacive modulation of the O atoms in vertexes of such CO3 groups is described using x-harmonics in crenel intervals. The Na, K atoms occupy mixed sites whose occupation modulation is described in two ways using either complementary harmonic functions or crenels. The nyerereite structure has been compared both with the commensurately modulated structure of K-free Na2Ca(CO3)2 and with the widely known incommensurately modulated structure of γ-Na2CO3.

Perovskites with the Framework-Forming Xenon.

The Group 18 elements (noble gases) were the last ones in the periodic system to have not been encountered in perovskite structures. We herein report the synthesis of a new group of double perovskites KM(XeNaO6) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) containing framework-forming xenon. The structures of the new compounds, like other double perovskites, are built up of the alternating sequence of corner-sharing (XeO6) and (NaO6) octahedra arranged in a three-dimensional rocksalt order. The fact that xenon can be incorporated into the perovskite structure provides new insights into the problem of Xe depletion in the atmosphere. Since octahedrally coordinated Xe(VIII) and Si(IV) exhibit close values of ionic radii (0.48 and 0.40 Å, respectively), one could assume that Xe(VIII) can be incorporated into hyperbaric frameworks such as MgSiO3 perovskite. The ability of Xe to form stable inorganic frameworks can further extend the rich and still enigmatic chemistry of this noble gas.