Spectroscopic and structural investigations of blue afwillite from Ma'ale Adummim locality, Palestinian Autonomy.

Until now, only the colourless crystals of mineral afwillite, Ca(HSiO)·2HO, were known from several localities around the world. Present work focuses on blue afwillite counterparts from the Ma'ale Adummim locality in Palestine. Using the wide spectrum of analytical methods we attempted to identify the causes of this unusual colour.

Raman spectroscopy and structural study of baryte-hashemite solid solution from pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Complex, Israel.

A number of the baryte, BaSO, - hashemite, BaCrO, solid solution compounds were synthesized previously. In this study, Raman spectra of naturally occurring phases belonging to the baryte-hashemite series from the pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Complex were investigated. The Raman spectrum of natural hashemite, obtained for the first time, shows the position of the fundamental bands for the chromate anion vibrations.