The dioctahedral member of the talc-pyrophyllite group. The ideal composition is Al₂Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂. Pyrophyllite forms as a prominent 1A polytype (where A = anorthic, older literature refers to this polytype as 1Tc) and a less prominent, poorly crystalline 2M polytype. The stacking of 2:1 layers in pyrophyllite (Lee and Guggenheim, 1981) is not constrained by an interlayer cation as in the micas, but is related to Si⁴⁺ to Si⁴⁺ repulsions across the vacant interlayer region. Thus Si tetrahedra between adjacent layers are shifted by ~a/3 so that there are no six-fold or twelve-fold interlayer sites available for interlayer cations, as in mica. Ferripyrophyllite is the ferric iron analogue of pyrophyllite. Pyrophyllite occurs in highly Al-rich metapelites, including metabauxites and metaquartzites, and under hydrothermal conditions.
Cf., talc