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Tourmaline crystallography, crystal chemistry and nomenclature: current status

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NATURA 111 (1): 47-48, 2021 - TUR2021 3rd International Conference on Tourmaline

Tourmaline crystallography, crystal chemistry and nomenclature:

current status

Darrell J. Henry*, Barbara L. Dutrow

Four years after the Tourmaline 2017 Conference and vacancy-groups (Henry et al., 2011). A guideline used
twenty-four years after the original Tourmaline Confer- to define tourmaline species was the dominant-valency
ence in 1997 (both in the Czech Republic), tourmaline rule; stating that in a relevant site the dominant ion of
studies remain a vibrant and evolving area of scientific the dominant valence state is used for nomenclature pur-
endeavor. One indication of this ongoing interest is the poses (Hatert & Burke, 2008). This principle has recently
sustained large numbers of tourmaline papers published been the approach used to establish species by the IMA-
over the years (Fig. 1). Many more papers involving tour- CNMNC (Bosi et al., 2019). In the case of tourmaline,
maline have been published in the last 24 years than in the the number of tourmaline species has expanded greatly in
previous 400 years. the last 24 years from 13 species in 1997 to 38 species in
With more complete determinations of the crystallog- 2021 (Fig. 2). Fittingly, Elba is the type or co-type local-
raphy and chemical variability of tourmaline, tourmaline ity of 5 tourmaline species.
investigations have expanded to numerous disciplines. Additional tourmaline species are certainly forthcom-
Two key concepts modified the way in which tourma- ing. Experimental studies of tourmaline have suggested
line is considered and classified (e.g., Henry & Dutrow, that tourmalines with other more unusual cations are
2018). The first concept is that two distinct types of OH- likely. Berryman et al. (2015) synthesized “potassium-
bearing sites occur, the V and W sites, in which F1- oc- dravite” at UHP conditions at 4 GPa. This implies that
cupies only the W site and O2- prefers that site. Conse- K-dominance in magnesian tourmaline, such as found
quently, the general chemical formula of tourmaline was in maruyamaite, is likely a signal of UHP conditions.
revised to X Y3 Z6 T6 (BO3)3 O18 (V)3 (W), where the most Vereshchagin et al. (2018, 2020) were able to synthesize
common substituents are X = Na, Ca, K or  (X-site Ni- and Pb-dominant tourmaline and further suggest that
vacancy); Y = Al, Li, Fe2+, Mg, Mn2+, Fe3+, V3+, Cr3+, Ti4+; there is no crystallographic reason to exclude the occur-
Z = Al, Mg, Cr3+, V3+ and Fe3+; T = Si, Al, B; V = OH1-,
O2- and W = F1-, O2, OH1- (Hawthorne & Henry, 1999). X,
Y, Z, T and B represent groups of cations that occupy the
X, Y, Z, T and B sites, respectively, in the R3m tourmaline
structure – note that the designated sites are italicized.
The V-group anions occupy the O(3) anionic crystal-
lographic site and the W-group anions occupy the O(1)
crystallographic site. The second concept is that there
are order-disorder phenomena involving cations across
multiple cationic sites in tourmaline. This feature is es-
pecially common in tourmalines with dominant O2- in the
W site. These features lead the IMA Subcommittee on
Tourmaline Nomenclature, chaired by Milan Novák, to
establish tourmaline as a supergroup mineral with three
X-site-based primary groups: alkali-, calcic- and X-site

Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State

University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
E-mail: dutrow@lsu.edu

* Corresponding author: glhenr@lsu.edu Fig. 1 - Numbers of papers published on various aspects of tourmaline
(data from GEOREF). Data are from plotted for 1900 through 2020, but
© 2021 Darrell J. Henry, Barbara L. Dutrow publications include those going back to 1562. The solid curve repre-
sents a 3-year running average of publications.

Fig. 2 - Number of tourmaline species from 1958 through 2020.
rence of Ni-, Co- and Cu-dominant tourmaline species.
The primary impediment appears to be the unusual geo-
chemical environments that must include boron and these
cations. Studies of natural tourmaline establish that tour-
malines enriched in Pb, Ni, Co and Cu do occur, but do
not reach site dominance - yet (e.g., Henry & Dutrow,
2001; Baksheev & Kudryavtseva, 2004; Sokolov & Mar-
tin, 2009).
Tourmaline analytical challenges remain and specifi-
cally include easily accessible quantification of light ele-
ments (e.g., H, B, Li) and the oxidation states of Fe. In
addition, evaluation of the order-disorder in tourmaline
can be a significant issue (e.g., Bosi, 2018). Each of these
factors potentially influences the proper classification of
tourmaline. Fortunately, progress has been made either to
estimate light elements through a variety of calculation
schemes or to directly measure these cations through im-
proving analytical approaches such as Mössbauer spec-
troscopy, SIMS, LA-ICPMS or LIBS. In addition, in some
Fig. 3 - Graphical limits of oxy-tourmaline species in the Al-Cr-V
subsystem considering Al-Cr-V over the sum of the Y and Z sites i.e.,
unnecessary to determine ordering to define species (Henry & Dutrow
2018; Bosi et al., 2020).
48
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subsystems it may be possible to establish tourmaline spe-
cies through simple graphical approaches (e.g., Fig. 3).
Much progress has occurred and will continue into tour-
maline’s future.
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