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Minerals and Their Localities

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Cook, Robert B

Minerals and Their Localities by Jan H. Bernard and Jaroslav Hyrsl. Granit, Prague, Czech Republic. 2004; 807 pages; $145 (hardbound).

Minerals and Their Localities is a strong contender for the most useful mineral reference available. It presents all members of the known mineral kingdom alphabetically in such a way that the approximately forty-two hundred included species can be almost instantly accessed. Information is concise, and locality data is surprisingly complete, with a particular strength in European occurrences. More than one thousand species are colorillustrated with specimens of good collector-attainable quality. The book makes a fine companion for the five-volume Handbook of Mineralogy (Anthony et al. 1990-2003), and for the collector it is more useful than Dana's New Mineralogy (Gaines et al. 1997) or the somewhat dated Encyclopedia of Minerals (Roberts, Campbell, and Rapp 1990).

The book contains a short preface and an introduction before forging into a mere 670 pages of descriptive mineralogy. Information provided for each species includes the generally accepted chemical formula, fundamental physical properties and related characteristics, a compilation of major occurrences, and at least one important reference. For many species an overview of occurrence types is given. Authors Bernard and Hyrsl have courageously included minerals that they consider valid species but for various reasons are not yet approved by the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names. These are clearly indicated, as are synonyms, varieties, and those species used as gemstones. The authors are authorities on European localities, and it appears that a high percentage of these are correctly spelled and include proper diacritical marks.

The book closes with a short list of important though general references, an explanation of symbols and abbreviations, an appendix of recently published or formalized species, acknowledgments, biographical sketches of the authors, and two fascinating compilations. The first is a remarkable 118-page alphabetical listing of worldwide mineral localities, a significant percentage of the approximately eighty-five hundred given in the descriptions of the individual species in the heart of the book; the list includes the locality name in detail appropriate for mineral labels and a listing of the important species found there. The second important compilation lists the thirty "richest" typelocalities in the world, beginnning with the Lovozero and Khibiny massifs and ending with Ronneburg-Culmitzsch, a locality with only one type species but noted for the occurrence of essentially 5 percent of all known minerals. The introductory material preceding the list catagorizes mineral deposits into eleven varieties and identifies each of the type localities as to locality type, a most interesting exercise.

For a publication containing this magnitude of technical data, it has been remarkably well edited, primarily by Vandall T. King. The English is somewhat literal and at times stiff; a final editing would have removed most of these issues, but the task would have been monumental and likely not worth the effort in terms of the book's utility and technical value. The English version of the book was inspired and supported by the late John Sinkankas and is a fitting tribute to his memory. It is highly recommended.

REFERENCES

Anthony, J. W., R. A. Bideaux, K. W. Bladh, and M. C. Nichols. 1990-2003. Handbook of mineralogy. Vols. 1-5. Tucson: Mineral Data Publishing.

Gaines, R. V., H. C. W. Skinner, E. E. Foord, B. Mason, and A. Rosenzweig. 1997. Dana's new mineralogy. 8th ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Roberts, W. L., T. J. Campbell, and G. R. Rapp Jr. 1990. Encyclopedia of minerals. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Robert B. Cook

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama

Copyright Heldref Publications Mar/Apr 2006

Source: Rocks and Minerals

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