A B S T RA C T : Comprehensive X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) studies have revealed octahedral cation ordering in a 1M lepidolite and in a 1M biotite. In the lepidolite (from H~ydaler, Telemark, Norway), all three octahedral sites are differentiated, with Li and Mn concentrated in the trans M(1) site and AI in cis M(3); M(2) contains all three cations. In the biotite, the major cations do not order but Ti, present at only 1.2~o concentration, preferentially occupies the two cis sites, information which is available uniquely from XPD. Long-range tetrahedral ordering should be detectable by XPD, but was not found in either mica.A few years ago the first detailed X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) studies of mica crystals were reported (Evans et al., 1979;Evans & Raftery, 1980a,b, 1982a; these revealed that XPD could provide information on details of their structure which were difficult or impossible to obtain by established techniques. In particular, information regarding the locations of substitutional ions present at low concentration was accessible (Mn and Rb in lepidolite--Evans & Raftery, 1982a; Ti and Na in biotite--Evans & Raftery, 1980aRaftery, , 1982b, and the direct quantitative determination of the aluminium distribution between tetrahedral and octahedral sites was demonstrated (Evans & Raftery, 1980b). It was suggested (Evans & Raftery, 1982a) that XPD might also be capable of characterizing cation ordering in micas--some of the data were only readily intelligible on the assumption that cation ordering could produce detectable effects in XPD--but much further work remained to be done.A far more comprehensive study of the same two micas using more sophisticated data collection techniques has now been completed; these new procedures are fully described elsewhere (Ash et al., 1987). In this paper only those aspects which relate to cation ordering in micas are discussed; XPD is now a powerful tool for the discovery and limited characterization of this phenomenon. The information accessible does not extend to bond lengths and angles, but, for example, differentiation of the three octahedral cation sites can now readily be made (as shown below). Moreover, although large crystals are still required, the degree of crystal perfection necessary is lower than for normal X-ray methods.
EXPERIMENTALThe c-axis repeat distances were found by Cu-K~ oscillation photographs to be consistent with a single-layer repeat in both micas. Close approximations to a mirror plane were evident * Present address: English China