The endmember hornblende tschermakite (?

Ca2(Mg3Al2)(Si6Al2)O22(OH)2) is a calcium
rich monoclinic amphibole mineral. It is frequently synthesized along with its
ternary solid solution series members tremolite and cummingtonite so that the
thermodynamic properties of its assemblage can be applied to solving other solid
solution series from a variety of amphibole minerals.

Contents
1 Mineral composition
2 Geologic occurrence
3 Namesake biography
4 Mineral structure
5 Physical properties
6 Special characteristics
7 References
Mineral composition
Tschermakite is an end-member of the hornblende subgroup in the calcic-amphibole
group. Calcium-rich amphiboles have the general formula X2-3 Y5 Z8 O22 (OH)2 where
X=Ca, Na, K, Mn; Y=Mg, Fe+2, Fe+3, Al, Ti, Mn, Cr, Li, Zn; Z=Si, Al (Deer et al.,
1963). The structure of tremolite (Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH,F)2), another calcic
amphibole, is commonly used as the standard for calcic amphiboles from which the
formulae for their substitutions are derived. The wide range in variety of minerals
classified in the amphibole group is due to its great ability for ionic replacement
resulting in a widely varying chemical composition. Amphiboles can be classified on
the basis of the substitution of ions on the X site as well as the substitution of
AlAl for Si(Mg, Fe+2). In the calcium amphiboles like tschermakite Ca2(Mg,
Fe2+)3Al2 (Si6 Al2) O22(OH)2, the predominant ion in the X position is occupied by
Ca as in tremolite, while the substitution MgSi<->AlAl occurs on the Y and the
tetrahedral Z site.

Geologic occurrence
Hornblendes are the most common of the amphiboles and are formed in a wide range of
Pressure-Temperature environments. Tschermakite is found in eclogites and
ultramafic igneous rocks as well as in medium to high-grade metamorphic rocks. The
mineral is widespread throughout the world but has most notably been studied in
Greenland, Scotland, Finland, France, and Ukraine (Anthony, 1995). Because
amphibole minerals like Tschermakite are hydrous (contain an OH group), they can
break down to denser anhydrous minerals like pyroxene or garnet at high
temperatures. Conversely, amphiboles can be recomposed from pyroxenes as a result
of crystallizing igneous rocks as well as during metamorphism (L�ger and Ferry,
1991). Because of this important quality, P-T conditions have repeatedly been
calculated for the crystallization of hornblendes in calc-alkaline magmas (F�m�nias
et al., 2006). In addition to studying tschermakitic content in its natural
occurrences, geologists have frequently synthesized this mineral in order to
further calculate its place as an endmember hornblende.

Namesake biography
Gustav Tschermak von Seysenegg (1836-1927)
Tschermakite received its name in honor of
Gustav Tschermak von Seysenegg (1836-1927)
Mineralogie (orig. pub.1883) was described
works of Edward Salisbury Dana (Mineralogy
Austrian mineralogist.
the Austrian mineralogist Professor
whose mineral textbook Lehrbuch der
as the German language equivalent to the
1885).

In 1872 Professor Tschermak founded one of Europe�s oldest geoscience journals

Mineralogische Mitteilungen (Deu: Mineralogical Disclosures) or Mineralogy and
Petrology. In the first volume of Min. Mitt., Tschermak established some of the
early classifications of the amphibole group in relation to the pyroxene group of
minerals (Tschermak 1871), which no doubt led to the formula Ca2Mg3Al4Si6O22(OH)2
being known as the Tschermak molecule, this mineral formula was later assigned the
name tschermakite as first proposed by Winchell (1945). Professor Tschermak spent
many years working as curator for the Imperial Mineralogical Cabinet. The
Mineralogical Dept. of the Imperial Natural History Museum in Vienna � an
impressive mineral, meteorite and fossil collection has Professor Tschermak to
thank for his detailed inventory system that has helped preserve it to this day as
well as the expansion of their meteorite collection. He was a full professor of
mineralogy and petrography at the University of Vienna as well as a full member of
the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. He was also the first president of the
Viennese (now Austrian) Mineralogical Society, founded in 1901. An obituary for
�Hofrat Professor Dr. Gustav Tschermak� written by Edward S. Dana (1927) can be
found in the 12th volume of American Mineralogist where Dana recalls the two young
scientists earlier work together in the Vienna Mineral Cabinet and remarks on
Professor Tschermak�s vigor and clarity of mind maintained up to his final days.
Gustav Tschermak�s third child, Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg (1871-1962) was a
renowned botanist who is credited for independently resdiscovering Gregor Mendel�s
genetic laws of inheritance by working with similar plant breeding experiments.

Mineral structure
The amphibole group consists of an orthorhombic and monoclinic series � hornblendes
and tschermakite both belong to the latter crystal structure. The crystal group of
tschermakite is 2/m.

Tschermakite and all the hornblende varieties are inosilicates, and like the other
rock forming amphiboles are double chain silicates (Klein and Hurlbut, 1985). The
amphibole structure is characterized by its two double chains of SiO4 tetrahedra
(T1 and T2) sandwiching in a strip of cations (M1, M2 and M3 octahedra). Much of
the discussions and studies of both tschermakite and tremolite have been to resolve
the varying cation placements and Al substitutions that seem to occur on all T and
M sites (Najorka and Gottschalk, 2003).