Refinement of the crystal structure of lithium-bearing uvite

The crystal structure of a natural calcium tourmaline, i.e., uvite with a high lithium content (0.51 au per formula (aupf) at the Y site, is refined to R = 0.019, R _w = 0.020, and S = 1.11. It is shown that, in nature, there exist uvites in which the charge balance in the case where the Z site is occupied by trivalent cations is provided by the replacement of part of the divalent magnesium cations at the Y site by univalent cations, divalent calcium cations at the X site by sodium cations, and univalent anions at the W site by oxygen anions. The W site is found to be split into two sites, namely, the W1 and W11 sites (the W1–W11 distance is 0.14 Å), which are partially occupied by the fluorine and oxygen anions, respectively. An analysis of the results obtained in this study and the data available in the literature on the crystal structure of uvites allows the conclusion that uvite can be considered a superspecies and that the nomenclature of this mineral group needs refinement with the use of structural data.