Abstract
Calculations by Dupree, Lewis and Smith (1986) on the ratio of aluminium in tetrahedral to octahedral sites in non-stoichiometric MgAl2O4 have been revised taking into account the cation disorder ever present in synthetic crystals. Comparison with the experimental results also obtained by these authors shows that not only octahedrally, but also tetrahedrally coordinated, cation vacancies may be introduced for charge compensation.