Oxyvanite, V3O5, a new mineral species and the oxyvanite-berdesinskiite V2TiO5 series from metamorphic rocks of the Slyudyanka Complex, southern Baikal region

Abstract

Oxyvanite has been identified as an accessory mineral in Cr-V-bearing quartz-diopside meta- morphic rocks of the Slyudyanka Complex in the southern Baikal region, Russia. The new mineral was named after constituents of its ideal formula (oxygen and vanadium). Quartz, Cr-V-bearing tremolite and micas, calcite, clinopyroxenes of the diopside-kosmochlor-natalyite series, Cr-bearing goldmanite, eskolaite-karelianite dravite-vanadiumdravite, V-bearing titanite, ilmenite, and rutile, berdesinskiite, schreyerite, plagioclase, scapolite, barite, zircon, and unnamed U-Ti-V-Cr phases are associated minerals. Oxyvanite occurs as anhedral grains up to 0.1–0.15 mm in size, without visible cleavage and parting. The new mineral is brittle, with conchoidal fracture. Observed by the naked eye, the mineral is black, with black streak and resinous luster. The microhardness (VHN) is 1064–1266 kg/mm2 (load 30 g), and the mean value is 1180 kg/mm2. The Mohs hardness is about 7.0–7.5. The calculated density is 4.66(2) g/cm3. The color of oxyvanite is pale cream in reflected light, without internal reflections. The measured reflectance in air is as follows (λ, nm-R, %): 440-17.8; 460-18; 480-18.2; 520-18.6; 520-18.6; 540-18.8; 560-18.9; 580-19; 600-19.1; 620-19.2; 640-19.3; 660-19.4; 680-19.5; 700-19.7. Oxyvanite is monoclinic, space group C2/c; the unit-cell dimensions are a = 10.03(2), b = 5.050(1), c = 7.000(1) A, β = 111.14(1)°, V = 330.76(5)A3, Z = 4. The strongest reflections in the X-ray powder pattern [d, A, (I in 5-number scale)(hkl)] are 3.28 (5) (20\( \bar 2 \)); 2.88 (5) (11\( \bar 2 \)); 2.65, (5) (310); 2.44 (5) (112); 1.717 (5) (42\( \bar 2 \)); 1.633 (5) (31\( \bar 4 \)); 1.446 (4) (33\( \bar 2 \)); 1.379 (5) (422). The chemical composition (electron microprobe, average of six point analyses, wt %): 14.04 TiO2, 73.13 V2O3 (53.97 V2O3calc, 21.25 VO2calc), 10.76 Cr2O3, 0.04 Fe2O3, 0.01 Al2O3, 0.02 MgO, total is 100.03. The empirical formula is (V1.703+ Cr0.30)2.0(V0.594+ Ti0.41)1.0O5. Oxyvanite is the end member of the oxyvanite-berdesinskiite series with homovalent isomorphic substitution of V4+ for Ti. The type material has been deposited at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.