Raman and infrared spectra of the uranyl mineral zellerite, Ca[(UO 2 )(CO 3 ) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ]·3H 2 O, were measured and tentatively interpreted. U-O bond in uranyl and O-H· · ·O hydrogen bonds were calculated from the vibrational spectra. The presence of structurally nonequivalent water molecules in the crystal structure of zellerite was inferred. A proposed chemical formula of zellerite is supported. Raman bands at 3514, 3375 and 2945 cm −1 and broad infrared bands at 3513, 3396 and 3326 cm −1 are related to the n OH stretching vibrations of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. Observed wavenumbers of these vibrations prove that in fact hydrogen bonds participate in the crystal structure of zellerite. The presence of two bands at 1618 and 1681 cm −1 proves structurally distinct and nonequivalent water molecules in the crystal structure of zellerite.

Raman spectroscopy complemented with infrared spectroscopy has been used to study a series of selected natural halogenated carbonates from different origins, including bastnasite, parisite and northupite. The position of CO 3 2− symmetric stretching vibration varies with the mineral composition. An additional band for northupite at 1107 cm −1 is observed. Raman spectra of bastnasite, parisite and northupite show single bands at 1433, 1420 and 1554 cm −1 , respectively, assigned to the n 3 (CO 3 ) 2− asymmetric stretching mode. The observation of additional Raman bands for the n 3 modes for some halogenated carbonates is significant in that it shows distortion of the CaO 6 octahedron. No n 2 Raman bending modes are observed for these minerals. The band is observed in the infrared spectra, and multiple n 2 modes at 844 and 867 cm −1 are observed for parisite. A single intense infrared band is found at 879 cm −1 for northupite. Raman bands are observed forthe carbonate n 4 in-phase bending modes at 722 cm −1 for bastnasite, 736 and 684 cm −1 for parisite and 714 cm −1 for northupite. Multiple bands are observed in the OH stretching region for selected bastansites and parisites, indicating the presence of water and OH units in the mineral structure. The presence of such bands brings into question the actual formula of these halogenated carbonate minerals.

Raman spectroscopy combined with infrared spectroscopy has been used to study the minerals, nullaginite and zaratite. Raman bands are observed at 3650, 3556 and 3309 cm −1 for nullaginite and 3609, 3516 and 3336 cm −1 for zaratite. By using a Libowitzky-type empirical function, estimation of the hydrogen-bond distances of the OH and water units has been made, which vary from 0.268 to 0.332 nm. Hydrogen-bond distances of OH units are less than those for the water units. The observation of multiple asymmetric stretching and bending modes for nullaginite suggests that the carbonate is strongly distorted in contrast to zaratite for which only single bands are found. Raman bands at around 935 and 980 cm −1 are assigned to OH deformation modes.

Raman spectroscopy complimented with infrared spectroscopy has been used to study the uranyl carbonate mineral voglite. The mineral has the formula Ca 2 Cu 2+

The molecular structure of the mineral pecoraite, the nickel analogue of chrysotile of formula Ni 3 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 , was analysed by a combination of Raman and infrared spectroscopies. A comparison is made with the spectra of the minerals nepouite and chrysotile and a synthetic pecoraite. Pecoraite is characterised by OH stretching vibrations at 3645 and 3683 cm −1 attributed to the inner and inner surface hydroxyl stretching vibrations. Intense infrared bands at around 3288 and 3425 cm −1 are assigned to the stretching vibrations of water strongly hydrogen-bonded to the surface of the pecoraite. The asbestoslike mineral is characterised by SiO stretching vibrations at 979, 1075, 1128 and 1384 cm −1 , OSiO chain vibrations at 616 and 761 cm −1 and Ni-O(H) vibrations at 397 and 451 cm −1 .