Reinvestigation of natural and synthetic silver amalgams

A study of several natural Ag-amalgams has been undertaken together with a reinvestigation of the phase relations in the synthetic Ag-Hg system. The genesis of the natural amalgams is discussed by comparison with the demercuration process observed on the synthetic products. The detected compositional ranges of the identified phases: α (mercurian silver), β (schachnerite) and γ (moschellandsbergite) are in agreement with crystal-chemical considerations