ALBERT

Description: Adolfpateraite, monoclinic K(UO2)(SO4)(OH)(H2O), is a new supergene mineral from the Svornost mine, Jáchymov ore district, Czech Republic. It forms sulfur yellow to greenish yellow crystalline aggregates, up to 2 mm in diameter. Crystals are transparent to translucent with a vitreous luster, without observable cleavage. The streak is pale yellow. The Mohs hardness is ~2. The mineral shows a green fluorescence in long-wave ultraviolet radiation. Adolfpateraite is pleochroic, with a = colorless and ? = yellow (ß could not been examined). It is biaxial, with a = 1.597(2), ? = 1.659(2) (ß could not been measured), birefringence 0.062. The empirical chemical formula (mean of 4 electron microprobe point analyses) was calculated based on 8 O apfu and is K0.94(UO2)1.00(SO4)1.02(OH)0.90(H2O)1.00 (water content calculated). The simplified formula is K(UO2)(SO4)(OH)(H2O), requiring K2O 10.70, UO3 64.97, SO3 18.19, H2O 6.14, total 100.00 wt%. Adolfpateraite is monoclinic, space group P21/c, a = 8.0462(1), b = 7.9256(1), c = 11.3206(2) Å, ß = 107.726(2)°, V = 687.65(2) Å3, Z = 4, and Dcalc = 4.24 g/cm3. The five strongest reflections in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern are [dobs in Å (I) (hkl)]: 7.658 (76) (100), 5.386 (100) (002), 5.218 (85) (1¯02), 3.718 (46) (021), 3.700 (37) (2¯02). The crystal structure has been refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data to R1 = 0.0166 with GOF = 1.30, based on 1915 observed reflections [Iobs 〉 3s(I)]. The crystal structure consists of chains of uranyl polyhedra extended along [010], with OH- located on the shared vertex between the bipyramids. The sulfate tetrahedra decorate the outer side of the chain with bridging bidentate linkages between the uranyl pentagonal bipyramids. H2O groups are located on the edges of the chains on the non-linking vertex of each uranyl pentagonal bipyramid. K+ atoms are located between the chains providing additional linkage of these together with H-bonds. The fundamental vibrational modes of uranyl ion, sulfate tetrahedra, and H2O groups were tentatively assigned in the infrared and Raman spectra. The new mineral is named to honor Adolf Patera (1819–1894), Czech chemist, mineralogist, and metallurgist.