Dumortierite "Beaunan"

I initially posted this under "General" because I am not sure that you would consider it a mistake or error - however in the absence of any response, I'm trying again here...

I was looking at the Dumortierite page, and noticed that the TL is given as "Beaunan" in the Rhône (Department, France). I have found old documents with that spelling, but today the village is spelt "Beaunant" - with a final "t". In addition, Chaponost, which is given first is a larger locality, it is more accurate to think of Beaunant, near Chaponost. From the reports I have read on the original discovery by Gonnard in 1847, he first noticed the mineral in broken stones used for roadfill at "Beaunan". Later he found material in situ, again at "Beaunan", not Chaponost. He also found it at a couple of other sites near Lyon... see: O.R. Grawe "On the mineral Dumortierite", Bulletin of the Mackay school of mines, vol WWII No2, March 15 1928...

The spelling is as in that publication, but is not in current usage. Should this be changed? I suggest "Beaunant, Chaponost, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France" as more accurate.

Cheers

Tim

Yes , you're right, newer maps spells Beaunan as Beaunant. So we should change the name of the locallity according to this modern spelling. (and keep the old variant in a paranthesis).

Regarding the more accurate naming of the TL, I found this info in Gonnard (1881), the first description of dumortierite : [rruff.info] :

The 13 nov 1879 (not in 1847), he first noticed the mineral along the road going to the Garron Valley, in rocks used for roadfill. A year later in 1880 he was able to find it's source; he found the rocks and the mineral in situ in a newopened quarry. The quarry was worked at the time by a certain Mr. Ducarre, and was situated on a new road going from from Oullins to Chaponost. It seems from the descripton that this was near (above) the Beaunant aqueducts . I don't know if the quarry still exist, or its name today, but perhaps some of our french friends may know ?.

So, in 1880 the accurate name of the TL in 1880 could be f.ex. " Ducarre's Quarry, Beaunant, .......


Reference
Gonnard, M. F. (1881) : Note sur l´existance d´une espèce minérale nouvelle, la dumortiérite dans le gneiss de Beaunan, au-dessus des anciens aqueducs galloromains de la vallée de l´Izeron (Rhône). Bulletin de la Société Minéralogique de France, 4, 2-5

Thanks for your input Knut.

I live close by and will try to see if there are any visible signs of the locality remaining. The area is now very built-up and so I am not very hopeful, but something may be visible, even if not accessible... I'll report when I have anything to add. Sorry for the delay, but I was out of the country until a few days ago...

Tim

I am lucky to live less than 5 miles away from the type-locality so I think that I know what I'm talking about. The correct reading/spelling is:
Beaunant, Chaponost, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France
Eugène Dumortier (1801-1876) found the first samples that have been identified later in 1881 by F. Gonnard and E. Bertrand
Source: Damour M. (1881) Analyse de la dumortiérite. Bulletin de la Société Minéralogique de France, Vol. 4, pp. 6-8
There is nothing left on-site.

Thanks for your valuable information. The localityname has been corrected ( eg. putting Beaunant before Chaponost in the hierarchy)

I have one question though, you wrote:

Quote

Eugène Dumortier (1801-1876) found the first samples that have been identified later

The source you gave, Damour (1881) does not says anything about Dumortier, see here [rruff.info]
Do you have other sources for your information ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2012 12:50PM by Knut Edvard Larsen.