Liebermannite, KAlSi3O8, a new shock-metamorphic, high-pressure mineral from the Zagami Martian meteorite

Ma, C., Tschauner, O., Beckett, J. R., Rossman, G. R., Prescher, C., Prakapenka, V. B., Bechtel, H. A. and MacDowell, A.

Meteoritics & Planetary Science. doi: 10.1111/maps.13000

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“In this paper, we discuss the occurrence of liebermannite (IMA 2013-128), KAlSi3O8, a new, shock-generated, high-pressure tetragonal hollandite-type structure silicate mineral, in the Zagami basaltic shergottite meteorite. Liebermannite crystallizes in space group I4/m with Z = 2, cell dimensions of a = 9.15 ± 0.14 (1σ) Å, c = 2.74 ± 0.13 Å, and a cell volume of 229 ± 19 Å3 (for the type material), as revealed by synchrotron diffraction. In Zagami, liebermannite likely formed via solid-state transformation of primary igneous K-feldspar during an impact event that achieved pressures of ~20 GPa or more. The mineral name is in honor of Robert C. Liebermann, a high-pressure mineral physicist at Stony Brook University, New York, USA.”