A List of Carbonate-Bearing Minerals:
Introduction

by L. Bruce Railsback, Department of Geology, University of Georgia
with the kind help of Dr. Joseph A. Mandarino of the Royal Ontario Museum

     This is the introductory page to a list of all known carbonate-bearing minerals for which names have been approved by the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names. For the sake of completeness, but not for the sake of enumeration, the list also includes and annotates some names no longer considered distinct mineral species and some names never approved by the CNMMN. This is a list of carbonate-bearing minerals, and so it contains many minerals that would not be classified as carbonate minerals but that derive at least some, albeit sometimes small, part of their negative charge from CO32- or HCO3-.

     These tables are an on-line updated appendix to a 1999 paper on "Patterns in the compositions, properties, and geochemistry of carbonate minerals" in Carbonates and Evaporites (and for which an abstract is available here). The tables are cross-referenced to Figures 1 and 2 of that paper. Figures 1 and 2 consist of rows and columns of cells to which the minerals are assigned. The far-right column of these tables uses three numbers in the format "C.R.N.", where C is the column in Figure 1 or 2, R is the row in Figure 1 or 2, and N merely enumerates the mineral among the minerals appropriate to that cell. The appearance of "-.-.-" in the far right column indicates an entry that is not considered a mineral for the purposes of the paper; a footnote usually explains why. An updated version of Figures 1 and 2 is also available.

The list is in five tables:

  • Table I: The pure carbonate minerals lists the pure carbonate minerals, those in which only HCO3- and/or CO32-, along with OH- or O2-, account for all the negative charge. This table lists all the minerals in Figure 1 of Railsback's paper on "Patterns in the compositions, properties, and geochemistry of carbonate minerals"

  • Table II: The carbonate-bearing minerals with chloride, sulfate, or fluoride lists the carbonate-bearing minerals that also contain chloride, sulfate, or fluoride. It is supposed to have every such mineral in which CO3 (or HCO3) appears in the formula, regardless how small a proportion of the negative charge it contributes. This table lists all the minerals in Columns 7, 8, and 9 of Figure 2 of Railsback's paper on "Patterns in the compositions, properties, and geochemistry of carbonate minerals"

  • Table III: The carbonate-bearing minerals with phosphate, borate, arsenate, arsenite, or silicate lists the carbonate-bearing minerals that also contain phosphate, borate, arsenate, arsenite, or silicate. It is supposed to have every such mineral in which CO3 (or HCO3) appears in the formula, regardless how small a proportion of the negative charge it contributes. This table lists all the minerals in Columns 10 and 11 of Figure 2 of Railsback's paper on "Patterns in the compositions, properties, and geochemistry of carbonate minerals"

  • Table IV: The carbonate-bearing minerals with multiple other anions lists the carbonate-bearing minerals that contain two or more other anions, such as halides, sulfate, borate, arsenate, arsenite, phosphate, or silicate. Tables II and III are in part redundant with Table IV, in that every mineral in Table IV also appears in Table II or Table III. This table lists all the minerals in Column 12 of Figure 2 of Railsback's paper on "Patterns in the compositions, properties, and geochemistry of carbonate minerals"

  • Table V: Recently recognized carbonate-bearing minerals is a list of all carbonate-bearing minerals for which names have been recently approved by the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names. Table V is largely redundant with Tables I, II, III, and IV and simply compiles the most recently recognized minerals in Tables I, II, III, and IV.

         The document from which this list was initiated was A.M. Clark's Hey's Mineral Index (London, Chapman and Hall, 1993). The list was supplemented and modified by consulting Nickel and Nichols's Mineral Reference Manual (New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991), Fleischer and Mandarino's Glossary of Mineral Species 1995 (Tuscon, Mineralogical Record, Inc., 1995), Joseph A. Mandarino's New Minerals 1990-1994 (Tuscon, Mineralogical Record, Inc., 1997) and Dana's New Mineralogy (New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1997) by Gaines et al.. New minerals have been added and corrections have been made. Notes of error's in Hey's Mineral Index are not a criticism of that work but reflect its importance as the starting point for this effort.
         Little effort has been made in these table to list varietal names and synonyms. Persons interested in them may want to consult J. de Fourestier's Glossary of Mineral Synonyms (Ottawa, Mineralogical Association of Canada Special Publication No.2., 496pp.)
        Dr. Joseph A. Mandarino of the Royal Ontario Musueum has provided invaluable advice in revising these tables, and Dr. Peter Rickwood of the University of New South Wales has kindly noted some of the errors in early versions.

         If you spot an error or a missing mineral, or if you have some other comment or query, please contact Bruce Railsback.

    Relatively recent general references on carbonate minerals include

    Lippman, F., 1973, Sedimentary Carbonate Minerals: New York, Springer Verlag, 228 p.

    Marion, G.M., 2001, Carbonate mineral solubility at low temperatures in the Na-K-Mg-Ca-Cl-SO4-OH-HCO3-CO3-CO2-H2O system: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 65, p. 1883-1896.

    Morse, J.W. and Mackenzie, F.T., 1990, Geochemistry of Sedimentary Carbonates: New York, Elsevier, 696 p.

    Railsback, L.B., 1999, Patterns in the compositions, properties, and geochemistry of carbonate minerals: Carbonates and Evaporites, v. 14, p. 1-20.

    Reeder. R.J., (ed.), 1983, Carbonates: Mineralogy and Chemistry: Mineralogical Society of America Reviews in Mineralogy v. 11, 394 p.

    White, W.B., 1974, The carbonate minerals, in Farmer, V.C. (ed.), The Infrared Spectra of Minerals: Mineralogical Society of London Monograph 4, p. 227-284.

    Zemann. J., 1981, Zur Stereochemie der Karbonate: Fortschritte der Mineralogie, v. 59, p. 95-116.

     

    Some compendia of minerals and their properties include

    Clark, A.M., 1993, Hey's Mineral Index. London, Chapman and Hall, 852 p.

    Fleischer, M. and Mandarino, J.A., 1995, Glossary of Mineral Species 1995. Tucson, The Mineralogical Record, Inc., 280 p.

    Gaines, R.V., Skinner, H.C.W., Foord, E.E., Mason, B., and Rosenzweig, A., 1997, Dana's New Mineralogy (8th edn.). New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1819 p.

    Mandarino, J.A., 1997, New Minerals 1990-1994. Tucson, The Mineralogical record, Inc., 222 p.

    Nickel, E.H. and Nichols, M.C., 1991, Mineral Reference Manual. New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 250 p.

    Robie, R.A., Hemingway, B.S, and Fisher, J.R., 1979, Thermodynamic Properties of Minerals and Related Substances at 298.15 K and 1 Bar (105 Pascals) Pressure and Higher Temperatures: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1452, 456 p.

    Strunz, H., and Nickel, E., 2001, Strunz Mineralogical Tables (Ninth Edition): Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 870 pages.

     

    Interesting recent papers include

    Kemper, F., et al., 2002, Detection of carbonates in dust shells around evolved stars: Nature, v. 415, p. 295-297 (spectroscopic evidence of calcite and dolomite around two white dwarf stars - the first evidence of carbonates outside our solar system).

    Some other online mineral lists and databases include

        David A. Barthelmy's Mineralogy Database.
        Jill Banfield's list of Chemical formulae for minerals and gems at the University of Wisconsin.
        Athena's Mineral Lists.
        The Mineral Gallery's Illustrated Mineral Compendium.
        The Ecole des Mines de Paris's Minerals List by first letter or the entire list.
        Joe Smyth's Mineral Structures Data Base at the University of Colorado.
        Hershel Friedman's Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom. and its list of carbonate minerals.
        Yves Isabel's French-language Mineral List.

    Other web sites or pages specific to carbonate minerals include

        A detailed page at the University of Oregon on the common carbonate minerals.
        A series of pages at the University of British Columbia on carbonate minerals.
        A page listing the remarkable features of CaCO3.

    Other mineralogical sites include

        The Mineral News's New Mineral Abstracts.
        The University of Wurzburg's list of sites for mineralogy and petrology.
        The Mineralogical Record.
        The American Mineralogist.
        Trinity Mineral Company's Photographic Mineral Museum.
        GEOLIB.
        The Ecole des Mines de Paris's Euromin History of Mineralogy.

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