Gonnardite is a comparatively rare, fibrous zeolite, natrolite subgroup. Older papers claim that a complete solid solution exists between tetranatrolite and gonnardite, but tetranatrolite was discredited as a separate species in 1999.[American Mineralogist (1999) 84: 1445–1450] A series, based on the disorder of the silicon-aluminum in the framework, appears to exist between Na-rich gonnardite and natrolite, Na2(Si3Al2)O10·2H2O.[Tschernich, Zeolites of the World (1992) Geoscience Press, pages 215 to 225]
Gonnardite was named in 1896 after Ferdinand Pierre Joseph Gonnard
Crystallography
Orthorhombic-bipyramidal class 2/m 2/m 2/m and
tetragonal-scalenoidal class 2m (orthorhombic with a very close to b, or tetragonal with a equal to b).
Unit Cell Parameters: a = b = 13.21 Å, c = 6.622 Å, Z = 2
[Mineralogical Magazine (1998) 62: 548]
Space Group: I2d
Crystal habit
Crystals are prismatic, bounded by {110} and {111} as well as {100} and {001},[ and gonnardite also occurs as radial hemispheres. Commonly found as zoned prisms or aggregates with thomsonite, natrolite and paranatrolite.][
]
Structure
Gonnardite is a tectosilicate belonging to the natrolite group. The natrolite minerals are composed of chains of AlO4 and SiO4 tetrahedra that link to form frameworks. As with all zeolites, there are channels within the framework, and for the natrolite minerals the channels are occupied by polyhedra containing sodium, calcium or barium, together with oxygen and water.[American Mineralogist (1972) 77:685] Gonnardite has the same framework structure as natrolite, but a disordered Si, Al distribution on the tetrahedral sites.[ Some of the water sites in the disordered natrolite structure of gonnardite are empty.][
]
Environment
Gonnardite has been found in silica-poor volcanics and pegmatites. It occurs with thomsonite and natrolite in vesicles in the volcanic rock of The Nut, near Stanley, Tasmania, Australia, intergrown with natrolite at Don Hill, Tasmania and in drill holes with chabazite and calcite near Guildford, Tasmania.[Australian Journal of Mineralogy (2004) 10-2: 59–72] It is also found in nepheline-syenite in the Grenville Geological Province, which is part of the Canadian Shield.[The Mineralogical Record 37-4: 285]
The type locality (the place where the mineral was first described) is La Chaux de Bergonne, Gignat, Saint-Germain-Lembron, Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne, France, and type material from this locality is held at the Natural History Museum, London, England, registration number BM.1930,166.
