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Ankerite Ca(Fe, Mg, Mn)(CO3)2
Benstonite (Ba, Sr)6(Ca, Mn)6Mg(CO3)13
Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2
Huntite CaMg3(CO3)4
Kutnohorite Ca(Mn, Mg, Fe)(CO3)2
Minrecordite CaZn(CO3)2
Norsethite BaMg(CO3)2
The borate minerals nordenskoldine and tusionite
are isostructural with the
Dolomite Group minerals.
The Dolomite Group of Minerals
The Dolomite group and the Calcite group are both rhombohedral carbonates.
All of the minerals in the dolomite group contain one of the following
metal elements, manganese, magnesium, iron, or zinc, combined with a
carbonate element and a calcium barium and/or strontium element . The
dolomite group minerals incorporate two different elements with different
radii in their crystal structure. This causes them to have a slightly
more complicated structure than that of the Calcite group. The way that
the minerals accommodate the varying radii of the different elements
is by forming in three different layers. One of the layers being the
usual carbonate element, another being the layer of calcium barium and/or
strontium and one of the metal ions as the third layer. This triple
layering causes the minerals to loose their twofold rotation and mirror
plane, resulting in a bar 3 rhombohedral symmetry. The only common mineral
in the dolomite group, is mineral dolomite. All of the others are quite
rare. This is thought to be due to similar radius lengths in the elements
of the other minerals in this group. Only dolomite has a notable difference
in size between the calcium and the magnesium. All of the others have
similar lengths making it hard for the ions to separate into layers.
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