American Mineralogist, Volume62, pages403410, 1977

Classificationand nomenclatureof the pyrochlore group

D. D. HoclnrHl
Departmentof Geology,Uniuersityof Ottawa
Ottawa,CanadaKl N 6N5

Abstract

The IMA Subcommitteeon Nomenclatureof the PyrochloreGroup recommendsthe following classificationand

nomenclature:
Group pyrochlore[Ar-.B,O6(O,OH,F)r-".pHzO]
Subgroups pyrochlore,microlite,betafite
Species pyrochlore,kalipyrochlore,bariopyrochlore,yttropyrochlore,ceriopyrochlore,
plumbopyrochlore, uranpy-
rochlore(pyrochloresubgroup);microlite,stannomicrolite, bariomicrolite,plumbomicrolite,bismuto-
microlite,uranmicrolite(microlitesubgroup);yttrobetafite,plumbobetafite,betafite(betafitesubgroup).
Subgroups are dividedaccordingto B-atoms(Nb, Ta, Ti) and species accordingto,4-atoms(K, Sn, Ba,REE, Pb, Bi,
U). Forty-eightnamesrelatedto the pyrochloregroup shouldbe dropped,and five type specimens shouldbe reinvesti-
sated.

Introduction burg et al. (1960), van der Veen (1963),and Bon-

The pyrochloregroup comprisesa seriesof cubic
oxidescontainingessential amountsof niobium,tan-
talum,or titanium.Pyrochloreitselfwasdescribed by
Wdhlerin 1826,microliteby Shepardin 1835,and
"hatchettolite" by Smith in 1877.The remaining
memberswereall describedin the presentcentury.
Prior to the late 1950's,Dana's Systemof Miner-
alogy(Palacheet al.,1944,p.747-757)providedthe
accepted of the pyrochloreminerals.In
classification
pyrochlore-microlite
this classification wasdescribed
as a series,and nine similarmineralswereappended
as "likely members"of this series.Betafiteand "djal-
maite" (ibid,p.803-805)wereexcluded,but with the
cautionarystatement that "considerableuncertainty"
existsconcerningtheir relationshipwith pyrochlore
and microlite.Thesetwo mineralswerelatershown,
chemicallyand structurally,to retainthe pyrochlore
structurewith manyof the largercationsitesunfilled
(Borodinand Nazarenko,1957;Hogarth,l96l).
In the 1960sand 1970smany new analyses of py-
rochloremineralswere published,revealinga wide
rangeof compositions and leadingto manynewmin-
eral names.In the sameperiod severalschemesofl
classificationwereproposedincludingthoseof Ginz-
shtedt-Kupletskaya (1966).Adding to this growing
complexity,the literaturecontinuedto perpetuate
rnineral"species"of questionable validity,such as
blomstrandite, ellsworthite,and chalcolamprite,and
synonymssuch as mendeleeviteand betafite, neo-
tantalite and microlite, koppite and pyrochlore.
Clearly a need existed for a universallyaccepted,
rationalclassification
and a revisednomenclature.
In viewof this need,the IMA Commissionon New
Mineralsand Mineral Names,at the requestof the
chairmanDr. Michael Fleischer,established a Sub-
committeeon PyrochloreNomenclature.A. H. van
der Veen, Arnhem, Netherlands, was appointed
chairmanin August, 1966,and he, in turn, selected
the followingmembers:
(l ) Subcommittee,
uotingmembers
E . M . B o n s h t e d t - K u p l e t s k a y aM
, oscow,
U.S.S.R.'
T. Deans,London, England(Secretary)g
M. Gasperin,Paris,France
D. D. Hogarth,Ottawa,Canada
Akira Kato, Tokyo, Japan
L. Van Wambeke,Brussels, Belgium

'For the IMA S u b c o m m i t t e e on Nomenclature of the Pvro- 'zDiedJuly, 1974

chlore Grouo. 3 Retired Feb., 1976

403
404 HOGARTH: THE PYROCHLORE GROUP

(2) Commission obseruers, non-uoting MicroliteSubgroupin which Nb * Ta ) 2Ti and

>
M. Fleischer,Washington,D.C., U.S.A. until Ta Nb,
Feb.,1968 BetafiteSubgroupin which 2Ti > Nb t Ta.
C. Guillemin,Orl6ans,France The abovecompositionallimits for the subgroups
M. H. Hey, London,EnglandsinceFeb.,1968 were adopted becauseof a naturalclusteringof com-
positionsand a relativescarcityof titanium-richanal-
The Subcommittee functionedalmostentirelyby yses(seeFig. I Titanium-richspecies rangefrom 33
).
correspondence. In general,their criteriawerebased to 55 percentTi, whereNb * Ta + Ti : 100atom
on publishedinformation,but in two cases, members percent.Analysesreporting larger amounts of tita-
re-examinedtype specimens.Certain decisionsre- nium may representmixtures.In contrast,most py-
quireda vote,and in the few instances whenopinions rochloresand microlitesfall in the range70-100per-
of memberswereequallydivided,the chairmancast cent Nb and Ta, respectively. Subdivisionof the
the decidingvote. pyrochloregroup accordingto the predominance of
At the outset,memberswerefacedwith the choice Nb, Ta, and Ti atoms would thereforerestrictthe
of recommending "orthodox" names,often well-es- titaniumsubgroupto fewexamples, and would cause
tablishedand of deservingorigin, or appropriate wide variationsof compositionsin the pyrochlore
chemicalnames.After detailedconsideration,the subgroup.Accordingly,it was eventuallyruled that
Subcommitteeand later the Commissionruled in any mineral with 2 Ti > Nb * Ta belongsto the
favor of a chemicalnomenclature. betafitesubgroup.
The Subcommittee submittedits first completere- Within the subgroups,individualsspecies are de-
port to Dr. Fleischerin December1971. He, in turn, finedwith respectto,4-atoms(uizNa, Ca, K, Sn,Ba,
distributedcopiesto affiliatedsocieties for comments REE, Pb, Bi, U) in the followingmanner:
and suggestions, which were forwardedto the Sub- (a) Na-Ca members.Sodiumor calcium,but no
committeein November1973.A revisedreport was otherl-atom, shallexceed20 percentof the total l-
then submittedin August l9'74,and its recommenda- atomspresent,and
tions were ratifiedby the Commissionin 1975and (b) other members.One or more l-atoms other
1976.The presentreport summarizes the reportsof than Na or Ca shallexceed20 percentof the total l-
the Subcommittee(unpublished,prepared by T. atomspresent.
Deans),incorporates suggestions and decisions taken The figure 20 percentcorrespondsfavorably with
by the Commission,and represents the final con- recentpracticein describingbetafite,uranpyrochlore,
clusionsof the Subcommittee. and uranmicrolite,the most common speciesafter
pyrochloreand microlite.
Classification Theproposedclassification is basedon total I -ions
The pyrochloregroup comprisesthose multiple (excludingoxonium),not on l-sites available.Thus
cubicoxideshavingthe followingcharacteristics: deficiency of l-cations or filling of vacantl-sites by
(a) essentialamountsof niobium, tantalum,and oxonium doesnot affectthe classification.
titanium,eitherindividuallyor in combination, Specialrulesapply in the caseof lanthanidesand
(b) the spacegroup Fd3m, yttrium. Although no exampleis known in the py-
(c) the pyrochlorestructureas definedby Gaertner rochlore group of a singlerare-earthelementex-
(1930)and Brandenberger (1931),and ceeding20 percentof thel-atoms, severalrareearths
(d) the general formula Ar--B2O6(O,OH,F),-o may occur togetherin significantamounts.When
'PH,O' their total exceeds20 percentof the total l-atoms,
In the caseof metamictminerals,compositional the Subcommitteerecommendsthat the mineral be
equivalents which producethe pyrochlorephaseon given separatespeciesstatus.The well-knownten-
ignition(preferablyin vacuumor inert atmosphere) dencyfor the rare earthsto be predominantly of the
are admittedto the scheme.Isostructuralminerals, cerium group (light lanthanidesLa - Eu, styled
suchasantimonates of the stibiconiteseriesandtung- ECe), or the yttrium group(Y * heavierlanthanides
statesrelatedto ferritungstite,are excluded. Ga - Lu, styledtY), alsoprevails,andhascreateda
Threesubgroupsare recommended, basedon the furthertwofold subdivision.
atomic proportionsof the B-atomsNb, Ta, and Ti.
The recommended subgroupsare: Nomenclatureand species
PyrochloreSubgroupin whichNb * Ta ) 2Ti and The current 16 speciesof the pyrochloregroup
Nb ) Ta, recommended in this studvare listedand definedin
 HOGARTH: THE PYROCHLORE GROUP 405

Table 1. Their namesreflectthe decisionto adopt

chemicalnamesin preference to "orthodox" names.
Thus uranpyrochlorereplaceshatchettolite,uran-
microlite replacesdjalmaite,etc. Applicabilityof the
Levinson nomenclature(Levinson, 1966) was re-
ferredto, but not recommended by theCommission.
The root namesfor species of the Nb- and Ta-rich
subgroups, as alsothe namesof the subgroupsthem-
selves,are derivedfrom the "orthodox" namesof the
Na-Ca members.However,as no Na-Ca member
has been definitely establishedfor the Ti-rich sub-
group, the Subcommittee recommends that betafite,
the mostcommonmember,be usedasroot namefor
this subgroup.
The bismuthomicrolite of Zalashkovaand Kuk-
harchik(1957)was considered as a new speciesbut
Nb Ta
rejectedby the Subcommittee becauseit contained
Fig l. The threesubgroups of the pyrochloregroup.Composi-
insufficientBi(4 atom Voof the ,{-ions). The Sub-
tions are plottedatomicallyfrom data in Bonshtedt-Kupletskaya
committeerecommendsthis name be used for the ( 1966).Mineralsno longerincludedin thegroup(mineralswith the
bismuthmemberof the microlitesubgroupasdefined samiresitephase,"hatchettolite"from Hybla, Ontario, and "ti-
in the precedingsectionand first described(as west- tanpyrochlore"from Tangen,Norway) are not plotted.
grenite)by Knorring and Mrose(1963).
The use of additional adjectivalprefixesis op-
tional, and should normally be restrictedto the with the approvalof the Commission,
six newnames
A-atom next in abundanceafter thb principalcon- are introduced: kalipyrochlore, bariopyrochlore,
stituent,followingPalacheet al. (1944,p. 43).Thus yttropyrochlore,ceriopyrochlore,stannomicrolite,
bariopyrochlore from the type localitycan be called is redefined.
and bariomicrolite.Bismutomicrolite
strontianbariopyrochlore (Ba 44Vo;Sr 32Voof theA-
atomspresent). Speciesof the pyrochloregroup
Recommended namesare givenbelow.Note that, Pyrochlore(Wcihler,I 826)

Table l. The pyrochloregroup

S U B G R O U P Sd e f l n e d by B atoms PYROCHLORE MICROLITE B E TA F I T E

viz Nb, Ta. Tt Nb+Ta>2Tl NH Ta>2Ti 2 Tt >Nb+ Ia
Nb>TT Ta>Nb

Na+Ca, but no other A-atons

>202 total A -atons pyrochlor nicrolite

SPECIES deflned
by A -atohs
kallpyrochl
vaz K,Sn,Ba,REE, one or more A-atons, other
Pb,Bi,u than Na or Ca, >202 rotal
A-atoms stannonicrollte

Species naoed by nost

abundant A -aton, other Ba bariopyrochlore ba! ionic!oIite
than Na or Ca

R E E* yttropyrochlore (tY>tCe)*x yttrobetaf 1te (tY>tCe)

ceilopyrochlore (XCe>tY)

Pb p lunb opyr och 1o re Plunbonlcrolite Plumbobetafi

Bi b isnu Eomlcro lit

U uranpyrochlo re ur anmic r o 1l t betafite

y a 1La + lu), and

.|.REE= 6dL puLpoaaa 06 apecio4 detltuitioft, REEcoun-tt M oftL A-etom.
" lY - Y + lcd - Lul; LCe = La + Eu.
 HOCARTH: THE PYROCHLORE CROUP
Kalipyrochlore (described but not named by Van
W a m b e k e , 1 9 6 5 ,p . 9 - 1 5 )
Ba r i op y r o chl or e (name replaces pandaite, q.u.)
Yttropyrochlore (Kupriyanova, unpublished; de-
scribed as obruchevite by Kupriyanova et al., 1964,
anal.63)
Ceriopyrochlore (name replaces marignacite, 4.u.)
Plumbopyrochlore (Skorobogatova et al., 1966)
Uranpyrochlore(Holmquist, 1896; name replaces
hatchettolite,q.u.)
Speciesof the microlite subgroup
Microlite (Shepard, 1835)
Stannomicrolite(name replacessukulaite, 4.u.)
Bariomicrolite (name replaces rijkeboerite, q.u.)
Plumbomicrolite(Hey, 1964,p. 1147;based on Sa-
f i a n n i k o f fa n d V a n W a m b e k e , l 9 6 l )
Bismutomicrolite (name replaces westgrenite, 4.u.)
Uranmicrolite (Strunz, 1957; name replacesdjal-
maite, q.u.)
Speciesof the betafite subgroup
Yttobetafte (Kalita, I 959)
Plumbobetafite (Ganzeev et al., 1969)
Betafite (Lacroix, 19l2b)
Synonyms, doubtful and discredited names, and species
not belonging to the pyrochlore group
The many synonyms and other names associated
with the pyrochlore group are listed alphabetically
below, and discussedin light of the proposed no-
menclature.
Aluminobetafite (Kawai, 1960) may possibly be-
long to the pyrochlore group and betafite subgroup,
with unusual gross substitution of Al and some Sn
and U. More data are needed.
Azorpyruhite (Hubbard, 1886)probably belongsto
the pyrochlore group, but as quantitative analysesare
lacking, the mineral cannot be classifiedor renamed
at this time.
Blomstrandile(Lindstrdm, 1874) has beenassumed
to belong to the pyrochlore group. It is possibly
uranpyrochlore, but adequate analyses are lacking,
and new data are desirable.
Calciosamarskire(Ellsworth, 1928)has the compo-
sition of uranian yttropyrochlore, but the mineral is
metamict, and proof that it belongsto the pyrochlore
group is lacking. Van Wambeke (1970) suggeststhat
a somewhat similar metamict mineral from Zaire
may be yttrian uranpyrochlore with a high proportion
of Fe3+in the B-positions.Further study seemsdesir-
able before deciding the status of this mineral.
Ceruranopyrochlore (Lin et al., 1973)is a cerian
pyrochlore. The nameshouldbe dropped.
Chalcolamprile(Flink, 1898; 1901) contains a
"large number of microscopical inclusions"(Flink,
1901,p. 163)and apparentlyrepresents an impure
pyrochlore.The 10.86percentSiO, may be due to
impurities.The nameshouldbe dropped.
Columbomicrolite (Yllliers, l94l) is an unnecessary
synonym of pyrochlore. The name should be
dropped.
Djalmaite (Guimardes,1939) is a synonymfor
uranmicrolite. The nameshouldbe dropped.
Ellsworthite(Walker and Parsons,1923a)con-
forms to the new definition of uranpyrochlore. The
nameshouldbe dropped.
Endeiolite(Flink, l90l) is probablyan impurepy-
rochlore. The few tiny analysed crystals "were
scraped"from aegirine. The I L48 percentweightloss
in HF and HrSOnwas assumedto be SiOr,essential
to the compositionof the mineral.The nameshould
be dropped.
Fluochlore (Hermann,1850)is an earlysynonymof
pyrochlore, not used by later writers. The name
shouldbe dropped.
Haddamite(Shepard,1870) is assumedto be a
synonymof microlite,but analyses are lacking.The
nameshouldbe dropped.
Hatchettolite(Smith, 1877) is a synonym of
uranpyrochlore.The nameshouldbe dropped.
Hydrochlore (Hermann,1850)is an earlysynonym
of pyrochlore,not used by later writers. The name
shouldbe dropped.
Hydropyrochlore(lvanov et al., 1944)is probably
an alteredmetamictpyrochlore.The nameshould be
dropped.
Koppite(Knop, 1875)is a poorly definedvarietyof
pyrochlore.The type specimenis not available,but
most specimensfrom the type locality arcpyrochlore
(seeVan Wambeke,1964,p.67 for analyses). Jakob's
analysis(Brandenberger, 1931)shows9.73 percent
Fe2O3,and contaminationis suspected. The name
shouldbe dropped.
Marignacite(Weidmannand Lenher, 1907)is a
synonym of ceriopyrochlore.The name should be
dropped.
Mendelyeeuite or mendelejeuite (Vernadskii,1914;
1923)is a synonymof betafite,the accepted analysis
(seeChukhrovand Bonshtedt-Kupletskaya, 1967,p.
175-l'76,anal. 9) conformingto the redefinitionof
this species, althoughthe proportion of uraniumis
little abovethe necessary minimum.The nameshould
be dropped.
 HOGARTH: THE PYROCHLORE GROUP
Metasimpsonile (Simpson,1938,p. 88; Bowley,
1939;Taylor, 1939,p. 93) is a synonymof miuolite.
The nameshouldbe dropped.
Mumbite(Van Wambeke,1970)is a synonymof
plumbomicrolite.The name should be dropped.
Neotantalite (Termier,1902)has long beenrecog-
nized as eithermicroliteor a closely-related mineral.
The originalanalysis(by Pisani)showedFe and Mn
as the principal l-atoms and the absenceof Ca.
Reexamination of Termier'stype materialby Gaspe-
in (1972\showedthe mineralto be metamictmicro-
lile with largedeficienciesin the l-ions, which may
be filled by Ba, Pb, U, and Ca. Fe and Mn were
presentas impurities.The nameshouldbe dropped.
Niobpyrochlore (Machatschki,1932)is an unneces-
sary synonym for pyrochlore.The name should be
dropped.
Niobtantalpyrochlore (Machatschki,1932),imply-
ing a compositionwith Nb ", Ta, must be renamed
eitherpyrochloreor microlite,accordingto the analy-
sis.The nameshouldbe dropped.
Nuolaite(Lokka, 1928),a mixture of yttropyro-
chlore and other niobium oxide mineralsrelatesto
wiikite (q.u.),must be discreditedas a species.
Obrucheuite (Kalita, 1957)is a namelatershownto
have been given to two differentspecies(Gorzhevs-
kaya and Sidorenko,1969).One of these,brown
obruchevite,after heatingto 700oC,crystallizedto
the samiresile^l phase(4.u.).The other, black ob-
ruchevite,wassubsequently renamedyttropyrochlore
(Kupriyanova, 1970, unpublished). The Soviet
Union's Commissionof New Minerals(KNM) and
MineralogicalTerminologyhave recommended the
nameyttropyrochlorereplacethis type of obrucheuite.
Pandaite(Jiiger et al., 1959) is a synonymfor
bariopyrochlore. The name should be dropped.
Priazouite(Yurk, l94l1, 1956,p. 24), previously
regardedasan alteredpyrochlore(Dzhun,1963),has
beenshownto belongto the samarskilegroup (Gor-
zhevskayaand Sidorenko,1974)and must be ex-
cludedfrom the pyrochloregroup.
Pyrochlore-microlite (Beuset al., 1962),implying a
compositionwith Nb ^, Ta must be renamedeither
pyrochloreor microlite,accordingto the analysis.
Pyrochlore-wiikile(Strunz,1957),beinga mixture,
must be discredited;seewiikite, below.
Pyrrhite (Rose, 1839,p. 5621'1842,p. 383-385)
belongsto thepyrochloregroup,but cannotbe classi-
fied becausethe type materialhas not beenanalyzed.
The nameshouldbe dropped.
Rijkeboerite (van der Veen,1963)is a synonymfor
bqriomicrolite.The name should be dropped.
Samiresite (Lacroix, l9l2a) has the composition of
a plumbian uranpyrochlore (seeVan Wambeke, 1970,
p. 138). However, although this mineral is metamict,
apparently with octahedral habit, it recrystallizeson
heating (Gorzhevskaya et al., 1966; Gorzhevskaya
a n d S i d o r e n k o , l 9 7 l ) t o a p h a s e ," S " , r e l a t e d t o
synthetic UTarOro (Gasperin, 1965) and lesser
amounts of a pyrochlore phase.The name should be
dropped.
Scheteligite(Bjlrlykke, 1937)may possibly belong
to the betafite subgroup, with complex substitution
by Y, Mn, Sb, W, Bi, but more data are needed.
Silicate-wiikite (Strunz, 1957)must be discredited,
being a mixture; seewiikite.
Stibiomicrolite(Quenseland Berggren, 1938)must
be discredited, being a mixture of microlite, stibio-
tantalile, and stibnite(seeRos6n and Westgren,1938)
Sukulaite (Vorma and Siivola, 1967) is a synonym
for stannomicrolite.The name should be dropped.
Tangenite(Gagarin and Cuomo, 1949)was a name
presumptuously given to titanium-rich "betaftes"
from Norway (Tangen quarry near Kragerl). Two of
the analysescorrespond ro betafte, and one to the
titanian equivalent of pyrochlore. Recently W. L.
Griffin, of the Mineralogisk Museum, Oslo, has
shown that the specimens analyzed were mixtures
(seetitanopyrochlore).The name is discredited.
Tantalbetafite(Kalita and Bykova, l96l) is a syn-
onym for betafite.The name should be dropped.
Tantalohatchettolite(Villiers, l94l) is a synonym
for uranmicrolite. The name should be dropped.
Tantalo-obrucheuite (van der Veen, 1963), in-
tended for the yttrium-rich member of the microlite
group, has not been found.
Tantalpyrochlore (Machatschki, 1932) is a syn-
onym of microlite. The name should be dropped.
Titanbetafite (Ginzburg et al., 1960) is a synonym
of betafite as redefined above. The name should be
dropped.
Titanmicrolite (Strunz, 1966, erroneously ascribed
to van der Veen, 1963),with Ti ) Ta > Nb, has not
been found.
Titano-obrucheuite(van der Veen, 1963) is a syn-
onym of yttrobetafite, and the name must be dis-
carded.
Titanopyrochlore (Machatschki, 1932) was named
as a hypothetical titanian equivalent of pyrochlore.
O n e o f t h e a n a l y s e so f B j l r l y k k e ( 1 9 3 1 , a n a l . 3 ) , f r o m
the Tangen Quarry near Kragerf , Norway, conforms
to a dominantly calcian member of the betafite sub-
group. W. L. Griffin (correspondence,April 1974)
made a microprobe analysisof Bjlrlykke's specimen
 HOGARTH: THE PYROCHLORE GROUP

and found it to be composedof at leastfive different References

phases. A "hatchettolite" from Hybla, Ontario
Ant-Wuorinen,J. (1936)Der Wiikiteund seinechemische Zusam-
(Walker and Parsons,1923b,anal. l) approaches mensetzung.Bull. Comm.gbol. Finlande,ll5, 213-229.
titanpyrochlorein bulk, but the material is in- Beus,A. A., and A. P. Kalita(1961)Recentdataon the so-called
homogeneous(Hogarth, unpublisheddata). The wiikite, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, /41, 705-708.(In Russian).
-, E. A. Severov,A. A. Sitnin and K.'D. Subbotin(1962)
nameshouldbe dropped.
Albitized and greisenizedgranites(apogranites).Izoest.Adad.
Westgrenite (Knorring and Mrose, 1963)is a syn- lVazftS,SSR,Moscow. 194p. (In Russian).
onym of bismutomicrolite.The name should be Bjdrlykke,H (1931)Ein Betafitmineralvon Tangenbei Kragerii.
dropped. Norsk Geol.Tidsskr.,12,'13-88.
IViikite(Ramsay,1899,p. 379)anda- andB-wiik- - ( 1937)Mineral paragenesis of somegranitepegmatites n€ar
ile (Ant-Wuorinen, 1936) are mixtures of yttropy- Kragerl, southern Norway. Norsk Geol. Tidsskr.,17, l-16.
E. M. (1966)Systematization of the py-
rochloreor other membersof the pyrochloregroup Bonshtedt-Kupletskaya,
rochlore-microlitemineral group. Zap. Vses.Mineral. Obsh-
with euxeniteand silicates(Fauquier,1960;Beusand chestua95, 134-144.(In Russian).
Kalita, l96l) and must be discredited(seealsopyro- Borodin, L. S., A. V. Bykova,T. A. Kapitonovaand Yu. A.
chlore-wiikiteand silicate-wiikite). Pyatenko(1960)New dataon zirconolite andits niobianvariety.
Dokl. Akad Nant SSSR., 134, ll88-l 19l. (In Russian).
Yttrohatchettolite(Kalita, 1959) has insufficient
- and I. L Nazarenko(1957)Chemicalcompositionof py-
uranium to be classifiedas uranpyrochlore.It is syn- rochloreand isomorphicreplacements in the ArBzXr molecule.
onymous with yttropyrochlore.The name should be Geokhimiya, No.4 [for 1957],2'18-295. (In Russianwith English
dropped. summary).
Zirconolite and niobozirconolitefrom U.S.S.R. and T. L. Richter(1956)The newmineralzircono-
(Borodin et al., 1956;1960)are synonymouswith lite-a complex oxide of the ABrOt type. Dakl. Akad. Nauk
SSSR,1/0, 845-848.(ln Russian).
zirkelite(Hussakand Prior, 1895),Parkerand Flei- Bowley,H. (1939)Simpsonite (sp.nov.)from TabbaTabba,West-
scher(1968,p. 3l) have listedniobozirconolite as a ern Australia.J. R. Soc. W. Aust. 25.89-92.
member of the "pyrochlore-betafite-microliteBrandenberger, E. (1931)Die Kristallstrukturvon Koppit. Z.
series,"but its monoclinicsymmetryexcludes it from Kristallogr , 76, 322-334.
the pyrochloregroup (Pudovkinaet al., 1974). Chukrov, F. and E. M. Bonshtedt-Kupletskaya, Eds.(1967)Min-
eraly, Yol 2, Pt. 3, Nauka Press,Moscow.(In Russian).
Dzhun, V, S. (1963)New data on the characteristics ofpriazovite.
Conclusions
DopouidiAkad. Nauk URSR,10, 1379.1384. (In Ukranianwith
The proposedschemeof classificationpermitsthe summaries in Russianand English).
addition of new speciesto the group when data be- Ellsworth,H. V. (1928)A mineralrelatedto samarskite from the
comeavailable. In namingtheseminerals,we recom- Woodcox Mine. Hybla, and from Parry Sound,Ontario.Am.
Mineral.. 13,63-68.
mend a chemicalnomenclature, as outlinedabove. Fauquier,D. (1960)Sur la "wiikite" et la "loranskite."C. R. Acad.
The following mineralsor variantsare poorly de- Sci, 250. 3032-303.4.
fined: aluminobetafite, azorpyrrhite,blomstrandite, Flink, G. (1898)Ber?ittelse om en mineralogiskresai Syd-Gr6n-
calciosamarskite, scheteligite. Type materialsshould land sommaren1897.Medd. Gry'nland,14,221-262.
_ (lg0r) on the mineralsfrom Narsarsukon the Firth of
be reinvestigated, and their mineralogical statuscon-
Tunugdliarfik in southern Greenland. Medd. Grfnland, 24,
firmed. 7- I 80.
Gaertner,H. R. von (1930)Die Kristallstrukturen von Loparit
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Acknowledgments l-30.
The Subcommittee gratefullyacknowledges the help of Dr. Mi- Gagarin,G. and J. R. Cuomo(1949)Algunasproposiciones sobre
chaelFleischer, past-Chairman of the IMA Commission of New nomencfaturamineralogica.Comun.insl. nac,inuest,cienc,nat,
Mineralsand MineralNames,and ProfessorGlaucoGottardi,the del Museo Argentino Cienc. Natl. "Bernardino Riuadauia,"
presentsecretaryof the Commission.Much assistance was given Cienc.geol.,/, No. 5, 2l p.
by the All-Union MineralogicalSocietyof the USSR,especially by Ganzeev,A. A., A. F. Efimov,and G. V. Lyubomilova(1969)
ProfessorsV. A. Frank-Kamenetskii,Chairman of the Soviet Plumbobetafite, a new variety in the pyrochloregroup. Trudy
Union'sCommission of New Mineralsand New MineralNames. Mineral. Muz. Akad. Nazk S,S.SR, 19, 135-137.(In Russian).
and E. K. Lazarenko,Chairmanof the Commissionon Miner- Gasperin,M (1965)Synthdseet donn6escristallographiques d'un
alogicalTerminologyand Nomenclature.Dr. W. L. Griffin, Cura- oxyde double de tantaleet d'uranium. C. R. Acad. Sci.,261,
tor of the MineralogiskMuseum,Oslo, kindly microprobedTan- 3417-3419.
gen "titanpyrochlore."H. R. Steacy,of the GeologicalSurveyof - (1972\Contributione I'Ctudede l'€tat m6tamicte:la "n6o-
Canada,readthe manuscriptand madevaluablesuggestions for its tantalite", une espEcediscr6dit6e.Bull. Soc.fr. Minbral. Cristal-
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