There is currently a lack of uniformity in symbols used for rock-forming minerals in scientific publications. The author proposes standardized symbols for over 100 minerals in an effort to promote consistency. Key guidelines for symbols include using 2-3 letters with the first capitalized, and selecting letters from the mineral name. A separate set of lowercase symbols is also suggested for mineral components. Adopting standardized symbols would help reduce confusion and improve communication about rock minerals.
There is currently a lack of uniformity in symbols used for rock-forming minerals in scientific publications. The author proposes standardized symbols for over 100 minerals in an effort to promote consistency. Key guidelines for symbols include using 2-3 letters with the first capitalized, and selecting letters from the mineral name. A separate set of lowercase symbols is also suggested for mineral components. Adopting standardized symbols would help reduce confusion and improve communication about rock minerals.
There is currently a lack of uniformity in symbols used for rock-forming minerals in scientific publications. The author proposes standardized symbols for over 100 minerals in an effort to promote consistency. Key guidelines for symbols include using 2-3 letters with the first capitalized, and selecting letters from the mineral name. A separate set of lowercase symbols is also suggested for mineral components. Adopting standardized symbols would help reduce confusion and improve communication about rock minerals.
There is currently a lack of uniformity in symbols used for rock-forming minerals in scientific publications. The author proposes standardized symbols for over 100 minerals in an effort to promote consistency. Key guidelines for symbols include using 2-3 letters with the first capitalized, and selecting letters from the mineral name. A separate set of lowercase symbols is also suggested for mineral components. Adopting standardized symbols would help reduce confusion and improve communication about rock minerals.
American Mineralogist, Volume 68, pages 277-279, 1983
Symbolsfor rock-forming mineralsl
RupH KRBrz Department of Geology University of Ottawa Ottawa. Canada KIN 984 There is at present a disturbing lack of uniformity in the choice of symbols for rock-forming minerals. For example,in Volume 65 (1980)of TheAmerican Mineralogisl, all of BT, BIO, and Biot are used for biotite, and all of Q, QTZ, Qtz, Qz and qtz are used for quartz. At least 10other minerals are referred to by two or more symbols, and in one instance,two different symbols are used for a mineral in a single paper. In Table I is a list of mineral names,taken mainly from Deer et al. (1962), and for each name a proposed symbol. In preparing the list of symbols, consideration was given to mineral names in the different languagesused in scientific writing. With few exceptions, the names for a mineral in the languages English (E), French (F), German (G), Russian (R), and Spanish (S) have similar phonetics, for example: E F G R S
biotite biotite biotit 'uorrrr biotita
and a suitable choice for a symbol is Bt. International uniformity would depend on the willingness of Russian scientists to adopt Latin letters for mineral symbols, as Perchuk (1973) has already done. Another example is: E F G R S
garnet grenat granat rpanar granate
and the symbol Grt would seempreferable to Gar.
IEditor's note: the abbreviation system describedin this note
is recommended,not required, for use in TheAmerican Mineralogist. Comments will be appreciated. 0003-.fix)vE3/0r02-0277$02.ffi
277
An example of a mineral that has very diferent
namesin different languagesis: E F G R S
kyanite disthdne cyanit K,I4aH'ITr cianita
Here, because Russian and English writing outweighs that of other languages,agreementmight be found in the symbol Ky. Most of the symbols that were selectedhave been usedpreviouslyby numerousauthors,e.g., Bowen (1928), Ramberg (1952), Perchuk (1973), Winkler (1973), Mueller and Saxena (1977), Barton and Skinner (1979) and the various authors of the Reviewsin Mineralogy(e.g.,Prewitt, 1980).However, becauseso much variation exists, some guidelines were required, and the following were chosen:(l) The mineral symbol should consist of 2 or 3 letters, the first capitalized, the other(s) in lower case. (2) The first letter should be the sameas the first letter of the mineral name, and the others should be selectedfrom the mineral name,preferably from the consonants.(3) A mineral symbol should not be identical to any of the symbols of the periodic table of the elements. (4) The symbol should preferably not spell out a word in common use in any of the languagesused in scientific writing. The standard we should strive for with regard to mineral symbols is the universally adopted system of symbols for the chemical elements. The use of a single symbol for both a mineral phase and a component of a mineral or of a melt phase has created confusion in the past, and a 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 melt. Some examples of components that coffespond to mineral "end members" and their proposedsymbolsare listed in Table 2.
278
KRETZ: SYMBOLS FOR ROCK.FORMING MINERALS
Table l. Mineral Symbols
Acm Act Agt Ak Ab Aln Alm Anl Ant. And Adr Anh Ank Ann An Atg Ath Ap Apo Arg Arf Apy Aug Ax Brt Br1 Bt Btm Bn Brk Brc Bst Cam Cpx Ca1 Ccn Crn Cst Cls Cbz Cc Ccp Ch1 Ctd Chn Chr Ccl Ct1 Cen cfs Chu Czo Crd Crn Cv Crs Cum Dsp Dg Di Dol Drv Eck Ed
Elb elbaite (ortho) En enstatLte Ep epidote Fst fasslte Fa fayalite Fac ferroactinolite Fed ferroederilte (ortho) Fs ferrosiltte Fts ferrotschermaklte Fl" fluorite Fo forsterite galena Gn garnet Grt Ged gedriEe gehlenite Gh Gbs gibbsite glauconite Glt glaucophane Gln geothite Gt graphite Gr Grs grossularite Gru grunerite Gp gypsum halite HI Hs hastingsite Hyn haiiyne Hd hedenbergite Hem hematite Hc hercynite Hul- heulandlte Hb1 hornblende Hu humLte IL1 illite IIn ilmenite jadelte Jd johannsenLte Jh Krs kaersutLte Kls kalsllite K1n kaolinite Ktp kataphorite Kfs K feldspar Krn kornerupine Ky kyanite Lmt laumontlte Lws lawsonite Lpd lepidolite Lct leucite Lm linonite Lz lizardite Lo loellingite Mgh uaghemite Mkt magnesiokatoptorlte Mrb magnesioriebeckite Mgs magnesite Mag nurgnetite Mrg margarLte Me1 nelilite Mc microcline Mo urolybdenite Wrz monazite Mtc monticel-lLte l,lnt montmorillonlte MuL nullite Ms muscovite
Ntr Ne Nrb Nsn 01 Omp Oam Or Opx Pg Prg Pct Pn Per Prv Phl Pgt Pl Prh Pen Pnp Py Prp Prl Po Qtz Rbk Rds Rdn Rt Sa Spr Scp Sr1 Srp Sd Sil Sd1 Sps Sp Spn Sp1 Spd St Stb Stp Str T1c Ilrp Ttn Toz Tur Tr Trd Tro Ts Usp Vrm Ves l.,lh tJo Wus Ztn Zo
Barton, P. B. Jr. and Skinner, B. J. (1979) Sulfide mineral
stabilities, In H. L. Barnes, Ed., Geochemistryof Hydrothermal Ore Deposits, p. 236-333.J. Wiley & Sons, New York. Bowen, N. L. (192E) The Evolution of the Igneous Rocks. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Deer, W. A., Howie, R. A. and Zussman, J. (1962) RockForrning Minerals: vol. l-5. Longmans, Green & Co., London. Mueller, R. F. and Saxena, S. K. (1977) Chemical Petrology. Springer-Verlag,New York. Prewitt, C. T. (Editor) (19E0)Reviews in Mineralogy, vol. 7: Pyroxenes. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D. C. Perchuk, L. L. (1973)Thermodynamic Regime of Deep-Seated Petrogenesis. Academyof Sciences,U.S.S.R. (In Russian). Ramberg,H. (1952)The Origin of Metamorphic and Metasomatic Rocks. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. Winkler, H. G. F. (1974) Petrogenesisof Metamorphic Rocks. Springer-Verlag,New York. Manuscript received, February 17, 19E2; acceptedfor publication, May 3, 1962.
