Crystal Chemistry of Alkali–Aluminum–Iron Sulfates from the Burnt Mine Dumps of the Chelyabinsk Coal Basin, South Urals, Russia

Abstract

Technogenic steklite, KAl(SO4)2, and unnamed mineral phase (K,Na)3Na3(Fe,Al)2(SO4)6 from burnt dumps of the Chelyabinsk Coal Basin have been investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. Steklite is trigonal, space group P3¯, a = 4.7277(3), c = 7.9871(5) Å, V = 154.60(2) Å3. The crystal structure was refined to R1 = 0.026 (wR2 = 0.068). It is based upon the [Al(SO4)2]− layers formed by corner sharing of SO4 tetrahedra and AlO6 polyhedra. The anionic [Al(SO4)2]− layers are parallel to the (001) plane and linked via interlayer K+ ions. The regular octahedral coordination of Al is observed that distinguishes technogenic steklite from that found in Tolbachik fumaroles. The (K,Na)3Na3(Fe,Al)2(SO4)6 phase is trigonal, space group R3¯, a = 13.932(2), c = 17.992(2) Å, V = 3024.4(7) Å3, R1 = 0.073 (wR2 = 0.108). The crystal structure is based upon the anionic chains [(Fe,Al)(SO4)3]3− running parallel to the c axis and interconnected via K+ and Na+ ions. There are no known minerals or synthetic compounds isotypic to (K,Na)3Na3(Fe,Al)2(SO4)6, due to the presence of separate K and Na sites in its structure.