Discovery of Warkite, Ca_2Sc_6Al_6O_(20), a New Sc-Rich Ultra-Refractory Mineral in Murchison and Vigarano

Abstract

Scandium has an inherent but underutilized potential for constraining environments and processes in the early solar system because it occurs at modest to high concentrations in a wide variety of refractory and ultra-refractory phases in chondritic meteorites. As a first step towards realizing some of Sc's potential, we have been conducting nanomineralogy investigations of carbonaceous chondrites to characterize Sc-rich phases and their petrographic context. Here, we describe a new scandium aluminate mineral, Ca_2Sc_6Al_6O_(20) with a P-1 aenigmatite-type structure, in ultra-refractory inclusions from the Murchison CM2 and Vigarano CV3 chondrites [1]. Based on EPMA, a previously reported phase in the CH chondrite Acfer 182 [2] provides an-other example. The Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association has approved this mineral (IMA 2013-129) [3], the name, war-kite, in honor of David Wark (1939-2005) for his many contributions to research on Ca-Al-rich inclusions.

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© 2015 Meteoritical Society.

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