title: Spectroscopic vibrations of austinite (CaZnAsO4⋅OH) and its mineral structure: implications for identification of secondary arsenic-containing mineral.
abstract: Austinite (CaZnAsO4⋅OH) is a unique secondary mineral in arsenic-contaminated mine wastes. The infrared and Raman spectroscopies were used to characterize the austenite vibrations. The IR bands at 369, 790 and 416 cm(-1) are assigned to the ν2, ν3 and ν4 vibrations of AsO4(3-) unit, respectively. The Raman bands at 814, 779 and 403 cm(-1) correspond to the ν1, ν3 and ν4 vibrations of AsO4(3(-) unit respectively. The sharp bands at 3265 cm(-1) for IR and 3270 cm(-(1) both reveals that the structural hydroxyl units exist in the austenite structure. The IR and Raman spectra both show that some SO4 units isomorphically replace AsO4 in austinite. X-ray single crystal diffraction provides the arrangement of each atom in the mineral structure, and also confirms that the conclusions made from the vibrational spectra. Micro-powder diffraction was used to confirm our mineral identification due to the small quantity of the austenite crystals.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource, Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, 621010 Mianyang, China; The State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining and Technology, 100083 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource, Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, 621010 Mianyang, China.
authors.forename: Dengshi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining and Technology, 100083 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hongfei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource, Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, 621010 Mianyang, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia. Electronic address: r.frost@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ray L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Frost
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000737:chemistry*; D001152:Arsenicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008903:Minerals / Q000737:chemistry*; D011208:Powders; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D014732:Vibration
chemical_list: D001152:Arsenicals; D008903:Minerals; D011208:Powders; C000598706:austinite; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Austinite; Infrared spectroscopy; Mineral identification; Raman spectroscopy