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Mineralogical ClassificationLazurite is the same mineral as Haüyne ?
16th Jun 2014 07:19 UTCUwe Ludwig
Rgds
Uwe Ludwig
16th Jun 2014 13:04 UTCLuca Baralis Expert
Imho, possibility is not enough, it should be proved.
Luca
19th Jun 2014 17:26 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
19th Jun 2014 17:56 UTCReiner Mielke Expert
19th Jun 2014 18:10 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
19th Jun 2014 18:30 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager
From my daring ignorance, I can think of two possibilities:
1 - to reclassify lazurite as a variety of haüyne
2 - change the lazurite theoretical definition to fit it to lazurite real characteristics.
This second possibility implies to change the "sulfide dominant" exigence to any other definition which fits the stuff considered lazurite, e.g. a sulfide percentage.
19th Jun 2014 18:51 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
Josele, I think we are stuck with these beautiful specimens being a variety of Hauyne. Your second suggestion requires abandoning the dominant lattice occupant as a species definer. There are other examples where this has happened such as actinolite which is an iron rich tremolite with insufficient iron to be the end member ferro-actinolite. Actinolite was retained for the convenience of its published history.
12th Jul 2014 21:27 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
We have now demoted Lazurite to a variety of Hauyne on mindat.org!
Jolyon
12th Jul 2014 23:59 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
8th Sep 2014 14:49 UTCCristiano Ferraris
Best regards
Cristiano FERRARIS (Member for France of the IMA-CNMNC)
8th Sep 2014 15:45 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
8th Sep 2014 16:02 UTCVandall Thomas King Manager
8th Sep 2014 16:15 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
8th Sep 2014 16:31 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
1) The hypothetical IMA species, which may or may not exist in Nature.
2) The varietal name or gem name for sulphide-rich Hauyne, which has such a long history of use that it isn't going to go away easily or quietly.
The simplest and most painless solution would be to keep the name Lazurite for the material it is now most commonly attached to, but just demote it from a species to a variety. The lapidary folk will still keep their name and be happy.
But this would require formal discreditation submitted to the IMA, and a new name for any future sulphide-dominant material. I predict that the dual usage will continue for quite a long time, as it has for numerous other mineral names (jadete, biotite, psilomelane, piemontite....). Not necessarily a bad thing, as long as we are aware of the dual meaning. Lots of words in the dictionary have multiple meanings and civilization has not collapsed as a result. ;-)
8th Sep 2014 19:29 UTCVandall Thomas King Manager
8th Sep 2014 19:40 UTCRonald J. Pellar Expert
Ron
8th Sep 2014 20:18 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
8th Sep 2014 21:07 UTCUwe Ludwig
Rgds
Uwe Ludwig
8th Sep 2014 22:13 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
The stuff has been mined for 9,000 years and I have no idea of the earlier names. By 55 AD Dioscorides was calling it Sapheiros Lapis and in 79 AD Pliny called it Saphirus. It wasn't until the 6th century AD that the name Lapis Lazuli emerged from Lapis = stone and Lazuli from the Persian 'Lazhuward' meaning blue. However Lapis Lazuli refers to the rock with Hauyne, nepheline or calcite (the white), and pyrite.
I haven't seen Tom's reference, but that would indicate that Lazurite is older than Hauyne. The original Hauyne http://rruff.info/uploads/Journal_des_mines21_1807_365-380.pdf was the Italian volcanic material and differentiated from lazuLite !!! as lazulite was not volcanic but hauyne was. In 1807 Hauyne was placed between gadolinite and lazulite!!!
8th Sep 2014 22:19 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager
8th Sep 2014 23:13 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
If all the "lazurites" were relabeled Hauyne then the IMA list would not need changing. The IMA is not responsible for mislabeling Hauynes as "lazurite" and no one is arguing that there isn't a hypothetical sulfide dominant, calcium bearing sodalite. (No work for IMA, lots of work for collectors)
There is a tension in the IMA over following the general nomenclature rules or bowing to custom and retain names that are well embedded in the literature. Actinolite, the third name in the tremolite-ferroactinolite series, should have been abandoned as a series should only have two names, one for each end member. IMA lazurite, Lazurite and Hauyne could be another three member series. This would have the advantage of using Lazurite as the rest of the world does, but then the IMA lazurite should be renamed . (Renaming is work for IMA and proposers, but this is no work for collectors)
Another solution is to live with the confusion until a real IMA lazurite is found and then rename it and demote Lazurite to a lapidary variety of Hauyne. (No work for anyone until an IMA lazurite is found)
There are probably other possibilities?
8th Sep 2014 23:24 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
9th Sep 2014 02:16 UTCVandall Thomas King Manager
I'd like to see Tom's references also. Hauyne was supposedly named by Tønnes Christian Bruun de Neergard in 1807. Gismondi tried to give a name, but he didn't follow through.
As far as Haüyne-S goes, not only could it be confused with the plural, haüynes, in computer searches, the proliferation of suffixes does more to homogenize and hide mineral differences than is useful. When there are truly close relationships, chemically, as in the rare earths or zeolites, the suffix is explanatory. The widespread use of suffixes is now over-taxed. This is becoming apparant as species with suffixes become more generic by dropping the suffixes, both in writing and conversation, even though the suffixes are supposedly intended to make the difference between species.
9th Sep 2014 12:29 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager
The epidote series is a precedent, it should really all be called clinozoisite but there is a hypothetical endmember pistacite commonly used by mineralogists too, when discussing compositions.
9th Sep 2014 13:53 UTCVandall Thomas King Manager
Alternatively,
"We have met the enemy and he is us" Pogo
9th Sep 2014 14:47 UTCOwen Melfyn Lewis
'Words mean what I choose them to mean. The question is who is master?' Humpty-Dumpty (from the pen of Lewis Carrol, authors of two well loved children's books - aka the Reverend Charles Dodgson, theologian, mathematician and logician).
9th Sep 2014 16:49 UTCJason Evans
9th Sep 2014 16:53 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
9th Sep 2014 17:42 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
Reading Dana and Brush (System of Mineralogy, 1868), they clearly show that they considered lapis-lazuli to be the dark blue dodecahedral crystals we think of today, complete with physical data and chemistry. They describe a mineral, not a mixture.
Very interesting! That raises another possibility. Just call the opaque non fluorescent Hauyne with a bright blue streak Lapis Lazuli!!! Then Lazurite remains the IMA lazurite. Collectors can relabel their "lazurites" as Hauyne or Lapis Lazuli and the IMA list is unchanged.
9th Sep 2014 19:15 UTCRonald J. Pellar Expert
My personal opinion is that the IMA needs a new direction in their naming philosophy!
9th Sep 2014 20:37 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
I think the problem the IMA has been addressing is the abundance of names. With more names, there's more to publish, deal, and collect, as well as the honour of being remembered in a species name. So there's social pressure behind the splitters. However when the pros need a Fleischer's to accompany a conversation there's a problem. There are so many names that some collections are alphabetically arranged.
Levinsonizing or prefixing names is one way of cutting the numbers down. These have the advantage in simple situations of saying it is just like such and such mineral with the prefix or levinson symbol in a dominant lattice postion. Epidote-(Pb) tells you more than Hancockite, but people feel strongly about losing such a venerable name. Levonsonizing things like Eudialyte just gives a confusing mess. Prefixing names has the disadvantage of scattering the names through out the alphabet, rather than keeping them with the same first letter when they are Levinsonized. In complicated situations, like the amphiboles, they yield real mouthfuls and can possibly be constructed from more than one root name.
The move to change the hierarchy from from a single level- the species- to groups etc is another attempt to deal with the names. With a much smaller number of group names the species names are organized. If Hancockite arises in conversation and is quiried, the phrase "Pb member of the Epidote group" avoids Fleischer. I would have preferred it if the IMA had set the current species level at a variety or subspecies level and the current group level as the species level.
Anyway the real problem is that mineralogy is fundamental to so many diverse areas, from mining to petrology and gemology, each with a different focus that the IMA tries to respect with its nomenclature. You can't please everybody but the IMA does try. As many others have pointed out trying to fit nature into a simple classification scheme is pretty arrogant and unlikely to succeed, but it can aid our understanding...
7th Jan 2017 17:17 UTCJeffrey de Fourestier Expert
However, in the same fashion for individual mineralogists, even if there is a collective agreement (and I include Mindat in this), to unilaterally decide that Lazurite is a variety of Haüyne (i.e. discrediting an IMA approved name) is completely unacceptable. Mindat would be wise to return Lazurite to a separate species status. It is not an issue if Lazurite is or is not actually a variety of Haüyne or not. The issue is that there are procedures in place that need to be followed.
A few years ago I pointed out to the discoverer of "Clinotyrolite" that despite all Tyrolite being monoclinic, the chemistry that she and her colleagues had published meant it might still be a valid species although the name they had given could not be maintained knowing the reality of Tyrolite. Their mineral had never been properly discredited and at best, following the establishment of the GQN list (the first draft of which many know I had been asked to prepare for the IMA), needed to be reevaluated as per the IMA that permit a mineral to be reexamined, redefined and its description modified in accordance if need be. Confusion remained because the mineral had been published before China recognised the IMA so it was either a G or Q status mineral upon China's entry to the IMA. But due to the lead scientist's lack of knowledge of English and a general unfamiliarity witht the IMA process in place, this had been overlooked and never properly dealt with. Added to this was that the the scientists who subsequently determined that all Tyrolite was monoclinic had no access to the type-material of "Clinotyrolite" and could not properly discredit the mineral. In this case it was shown that the mineral was in fact, as originally described, a separate and distinct species that only require a name change and some adjustment in its description to maintain its status. At least it was I either a proper G status mineral or it was raised from a Q (questionable) status to an A (accepted) status. In the end the discoverer, original and lead scientist was very grateful for my helping her through the IMA process as her mineral was now clearly a recognised distinct species.
In the case of Lazurite the same needs to be done. If there is doubt or the natural material doesn't quite match the theoretical descripton, then work needs to be done to reexamineand redifine the mineral. Then determine is it distinct from Haüyne and if it is (my tells me there is a good chance it is). If so, the modify the description that fits with Lazurite as it exists in nature and submit it to the IMA for approval. If it is determined it is not a separate and distinct species then this too, needs to be submitted to the IMA for formal discreditation. THE WORK NEEDS BE DONE, SUBMITTED TO THE IMA, FORMALLY RECOGNISED AND NOT UNILATERALLY DONE - NOT BY ANYONE.
So does the process with the IMA need reform? I think so. For example, I believe the decisions once made need to be more open. As well, if there is a disagreement with the chairman there should be a process of dispute resolution in place so that disagreements can be settled in acordance with accepted rules in the open and in a fair and equitable manner. Secretivism does not really encourage this. The IMA has made improvements but there is still room for improvement.
That said, imperfect or not the IMA is what is in place. It is there for a reason and needs to be respected and not bypassed. Presently, the IMA status for Lazurite is G (grandfathered) - nothing else. My advice to Mindat, if it wishes not to undermine its credibility, is to relist Lazurite until such time as the IMA says otherwise.
7th Jan 2017 17:57 UTCErik Vercammen Expert
7th Jan 2017 19:51 UTCTony Nikischer 🌟 Manager
7th Jan 2017 20:28 UTCRonald J. Pellar Expert
My impression of the IMA procedure is that of a closed door dictatorship of "in" participants that can be very parochial in outlook. I think that the IMA needs to be restructured along the lines of the ISO to better consider the needs/impacts on all issues regarding the knowledge and use of minerals in industry as well as the sciences. The ISO process is particularly good at resolving disputes among affected parties. True, that this results in many compromises that not everyone likes, but is workable and effective in establishing international standards in an open and interactive way.
8th Jan 2017 16:54 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager
8th Jan 2017 22:05 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager
12th Jan 2017 12:33 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager
12th Jan 2017 13:16 UTCErik Vercammen Expert
30th Jan 2017 18:18 UTCRonald J. Pellar Expert
30th Jan 2017 21:16 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 26, 2024 13:21:40