An unusual occurrence of palygorskite from Montestrutto, Sesia-Lanzo zone, internal Western Alps (Italy)

An unusual occurrence of palygorskite was found near Montestrutto, lower Val d'Aosta (Italy), within an eclogite-facies leucogneiss of the Sesia-Lanzo zone. Under the optical microscope the mineral appears as a felt of fibres hundreds of mm long and a few mm thick. SEM observation proved each filament to be a bundle of smaller but remarkably long fibres (length mostly 15-20 mu m and thickness <1 mu m). EDS and TGA showed a water content [zeolitic H2O (congruent to 6%) + structural OH2 (congruent to 8%) + framework OH (congruent to 2%) congruent to 16 wt.%] lower than average (congruent to 20 wt.%). Structure refinement by the Rietveld method confirmed the clay dioctahedral character and coexistence of two polymorphs, monoclinic [77.4(4)%] and orthorhombic [22.6(6)%], the latter showing anomalous variations of some cell parameters [c shortens to 5.138(3) and a lengthens to 12.903(7) angstrom]. The high crystallinity of this palygorskite suggests that it formed under low-T hydrothermal conditions due to interaction between Mg-rich hydrous fluids, derived from mantle ultramafics, and Al-rich continental rocks. Predominance of unusually long fibres (>5 mu m) causes the Montestrutto palygorskite to be potentially carcinogenic.