The crystal structure of magbasite from the Eldor carbonatite complex, Quebec, Canada, has been determined and indicates that the currently accepted formula should be revised to KBaFe3+Mg7Si8O22(OH)2F6. Magbasite is orthorhombic, space group Cmme (Cmma), with unit-cell parameters a 18.9506(3) Å, b 22.5045(3) Å, c 5.2780(1) Å, V 2250.93(6) Å3 (Z = 4). The structure has been solved and refined to final agreement indices R1 = 0.026, wR2 = 0.052, GooF = 1.116 for a total of 2379 unique reflections, and is a new kind of trellis motif related to amphibole and carpholite topologies. An amphibole-like I-beam ||(100) of edge-sharing octahedrally-coordinated M(1,2,3) sites, which are filled by Mg, is sandwiched between double-chains of SiO4 tetrahedra ||c. This I-beam is connected to side-ribbons ||(010) of edge-sharing (Mg,Fe2+)O4(OH,F)2 and Fe3+O4(OH)2 octahedra to form a tunnelled box or trellis structure very like that of carpholite, for which the I-beams are pyroxene-like. K occupies a tunnel site analogous to the A site of amphibole. Ba occupies a cavity site at the corners where the I-beam and side-ribbon meet, and corresponds to the A site of carpholite. The structural relations between magbasite and carpholite are discussed.

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