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Ralph Krez PDF
Ralph Krez PDF
RupH KRBrz
Department of Geology
University of Ottawa
Ottawa. Canada KIN 984
There is at present a disturbing lack of uniformity An example of a mineral that has very diferent
in the choice of symbols for rock-forming minerals. namesin different languagesis:
For example,in Volume 65 (1980)of TheAmerican
E kyanite
Mineralogisl, all of BT, BIO, and Biot are used for
F disthdne
biotite, and all of Q, QTZ, Qtz, Qz and qtz are used
G cyanit
for quartz. At least 10other minerals are referred to
R K,I4aH'ITr
by two or more symbols, and in one instance,two
S cianita
different symbols are used for a mineral in a single
paper. Here, because Russian and English writing out-
In Table I is a list of mineral names,taken mainly weighs that of other languages,agreementmight be
from Deer et al. (1962), and for each name a found in the symbol Ky.
proposed symbol. In preparing the list of symbols, Most of the symbols that were selectedhave been
consideration was given to mineral names in the usedpreviouslyby numerousauthors,e.g., Bowen
different languagesused in scientific writing. With (1928), Ramberg (1952), Perchuk (1973), Winkler
few exceptions, the names for a mineral in the (1973), Mueller and Saxena (1977), Barton and
languages English (E), French (F), German (G), Skinner (1979) and the various authors of the Re-
Russian (R), and Spanish (S) have similar phonet- viewsin Mineralogy(e.g.,Prewitt, 1980).However,
ics, for example: becauseso much variation exists, some guidelines
were required, and the following were chosen:(l)
E biotite
The mineral symbol should consist of 2 or 3 letters,
F biotite
the first capitalized, the other(s) in lower case. (2)
G biotit
The first letter should be the sameas the first letter
R 'uorrrr
of the mineral name, and the others should be
S biotita
selectedfrom the mineral name,preferably from the
and a suitable choice for a symbol is Bt. Interna- consonants.(3) A mineral symbol should not be
tional uniformity would depend on the willingness identical to any of the symbols of the periodic table
of Russian scientists to adopt Latin letters for of the elements. (4) The symbol should preferably
mineral symbols, as Perchuk (1973) has already not spell out a word in common use in any of the
done. Another example is: languagesused in scientific writing.
The standard we should strive for with regard to
E garnet
mineral symbols is the universally adopted system
F grenat
granat of symbols for the chemical elements.
G
The use of a single symbol for both a mineral
R rpanar
phase and a component of a mineral or of a melt
S granate
phase has created confusion in the past, and a
and the symbol Grt would seempreferable to Gar. separateset of symbols for componentsis required.
It is suggestedthat component symbols be written
entirely in the lower case, for example di for the
componentCaMgSizOoin a pyroxene crystal or in a
IEditor's note: the abbreviation system describedin this note melt. Some examples of components that coffe-
is recommended,not required, for use in TheAmerican Mineral- spond to mineral "end members" and their pro-
ogist. Comments will be appreciated. posedsymbolsare listed in Table 2.
0003-.fix)vE3/0r02-0277$02.ffi 277
278 KRETZ: SYMBOLS FOR ROCK.FORMING MINERALS