Crystal Structure of Kristiansenite from Szklarska Poręba, Southwestern Poland

Kristiansenite, ideally Ca2ScSn(Si2O7)(Si2O6OH), a rare late-stage hydrothermal Sc-bearing sorosilicate mineral, was found in a gadolinite-fergusonite-type pegmatite of the MI-REE subclass related to the Karkonosze granite, exposed in a quarry at Szklarska Poręba, Lower Silesia, Poland. Kristiansenite occurs in an association with andradite, epidote, allanite-(Ce), titanite, fersmite, scheelite, Sc-bearing columbite-(Fe), a YNbO4 mineral as fergusonite-(Y) or fergusonite-(Y)-beta, silesiaite and wolframite. Single-crystal study of the mineral (R1 of 4.96%), with composition Ca2.00(Sn0.97Sc0.69Fe3+0.17Mn0.05Ti0.04Zr0.03Nb0.02Al0.02Ta0.01)Σ2(Si2O7)[(Si1.98Al0.02)Σ2O6.03(OH)0.97], corroborates its triclinic structure with space group-symmetry C1, Z = 2, and unit-cell parameters a = 10.0304(5), b = 8.4056(4), c = 13.3228(6) Å, α = 90.001(3), β = 109.105(3), γ = 89.997(3)° and V = 1061.40(9) Å3. In the structure of the mineral, the Ca and Si sites are dominantly occupied with Ca and Si, whereas the M1–M4 sites are disordered. The M3 and M4 sites are occupied dominantly by Sn and subordinately Sc, whereas the M1 and M2 sites are occupied dominantly by Sc and subordinately by remaining occupants, including Sn.