When amosite (fibrous grunerite, Fe5·5Mg1·5Si8O22(OH)2), is heated in argon or nitrogen, physically combined water is lost up to 500–700° C. Above 500° C (static) or 700° C (dynamic), dehydroxylation occurs endothermically, giving a pyroxene as the main product. Under dynamic heating conditions, part of the hydroxyl water is lost as hydrogen, with concurrent oxidation of the iron. At about 1000° C the pyroxene is decomposed to olivine and cristobalite; at about 1100° C melting begins. In oxygen or air, physically combined water is again lost below 500–700° C. At 350–1200° C a sequence of overlapping dehydrogenation, oxygen absorption, and dehydroxylation reactions occurs, which gives rise to a broad exotherm on the d.t.a. curve. The main products (for static heating conditions) are an oxyamphibole at 350–800° C, and a spinel, hematite, a pyroxene, and X-ray amorphous material at 800–1100° C. Silica crystallizes as cristobalite at 1100–1350° C, and as tridymite at 1450° C. Most of the products in either neutral or oxidizing atmospheres are formed topotactically. The mechanisms and rates of the reactions are discussed, and the problem of determining the chemically combined water in amosite and other minerals of similar composition is considered.

The various (P, T) stability fields of iron-free zoisite have been deduced for systems containing excess silica and water with Ca : Al ratios ranging from 1 : 2 (anorthite) to 3:2 (grossular). Zoisite is a possible phase in all systems with Ca:Al lower than 3:2, attaining its maximum stability at the zoisite (Ca:Al = 2:3) and prehnite (Ca:Al = 2:2) compositions.

The consequences of varying the Al : Fe ratio are next examined. Zoisite with 4 % pistacite is stable to 525° at 2 kilobars, compared with ∼585° for clinozoisite and 620 to 630° for epidote (Ps35) at the same pressure. Increasing iron content also stabilizes epidote minerals relative to their low-temperature and high-pressure decomposition products.

Examples of natural zoisite-clinozoisite, zoisite-epidote, and clinozoisite-epidote assemblages are described. It is concluded that zoisite-epidote mixtures result from the disproportionation of clinozoisite outside its own stability field, but within those of zoisite and epidote. The assemblage zoisite-clinozoisite is probably not stable, but further evidence is needed on this point. The assemblage clinozoisite-epidote is stable below 550° C, at which temperature the solvus in the Al-Fe series closes.

Two small fragments of unpromising-looking ferruginous material, recovered from inside the Dalgaranga crater, near Mount Magnet, Western Australia, have been sectioned and, while one is largely composed of iron oxides and adds little to the record of this crater, the second fragment is one of the rare, predominantly stony ones reported by Nininger and Huss, and is sufficiently fresh for a thin section to be prepared. As far as is known no thin sections have been described of material from this crater. Microscopic study with transmitted light shows the stony material to be achondritic and to have affinities with the mesosiderites, and, in spite of the low nickel-iron content of this fragment, it seems preferable to regard it as representative of an iron-poor area within a mesosiderite than as true stony meteorite material. Although closely related to the howardites it cannot be classified with any known achondrite type because of the prominent olivine phenocrysts and it bears no resemblance at all to chondritic material. Mineralogical and petrographical details are described and illustrated, and the significance of this new evidence discussed. The origin of the crater is reconsidered.

Plagioclase in mafic gneisses from Broken Hill, Australia, contains twins that can be divided into two groups on the basis of shape: firstly, lamellar twins that gradually change thickness across a grain or form lenticular terminations; and secondly, simple and lamellar twins that show angular steps in the twin interface or form abrupt, planar terminations. The former are interpreted as mechanical twins, and the latter as growth twins formed by grain growth in the solid state, arguing largely by analogy with twin shapes in experimentally produced aggregates, particularly metals. The only twin laws observed in lenticular twins are albite and pericline, these being of nearly equal abundance. Stepped twins are much less common than lenticular twins, and in rocks without lenticular twins most of the plagioclase is untwinned. Several twin laws occur among the stepped twins, but the albite law is the most common. Simple twins on the albite and albite-carlsbad laws are prominent.

Variation diagrams for the optic properties and densities of natural specimens within the series have been determined. They focus attention on two composition regions at about 45 % Cn and 65 % Cn. The significance of the first of these is uncertain, but it is suggested that the discontinuity at 65 % Cn is related to structural changes that take place at this composition.

Monazite and sphene from the central zone of the Damara orogen of South-West Africa, have yielded ages of 500 ± 20 Myr and 600 ± 25 Myr respectively; these results are discussed in relation to the late Precambrian to early Palaeozoic tectono-thermal history of the region. Although chemically similar to that found in carbonatites, the monazite is probably genetically related to the widespread granitic pegmatites that characterize the central zone of the orogen.

The isotopic ages of three biotites from the Kondapalli area, Andhra Pradesh, India, have been determined by the 40Ar/40K method. The results (440–524 Myr) indicate that the basic charnockite and khondalite of pre-Cambrian age have been subjected to at least one subsequent metamorphism the age of which must be 440 Myr or younger. The significance of the results is discussed in the light of the available geochronological evidence from Peninsular India.

Details are given for the construction of a continuous, density separator from standard laboratory glassware and equipment. The separator can treat up to 5 g/min of granular material from 150 to 2000 µ in grain size, and the liquid used is continually recirculated by a simple airlift.