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

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 (1 sigma) angstrom, c = 2.74 +/- 0.13 angstrom, and a cell volume of 229 +/- 19 angstrom(3) (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 similar to 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.