These tables are intended to list of all known carbonate-bearing minerals for which names have been approved by the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals and New Mineral Names. Table I lists the pure carbonate minerals, those in which only HCO3-, CO32-, OH-, or O2- account for all the negative charge. If you spot an error or a missing mineral, or if you have some other comment or query, please contact Bruce Railsback.
Other options:
Introduction to these tables.
Table II: The carbonate-bearing minerals with chloride, sulfate, or fluoride.
Table III: The carbonate-bearing minerals with phosphate, borate, arsenate, or silicate.
Table IV: The carbonate-bearing minerals with multiple other anions.
Table V: Recently recognized carbonate-bearing minerals.
Under each of the following headings, minerals are listed in order of increasing charge on the most highly charged cation.
Footnotes:
1 Notes for Railsback's use.
2 For minerals that post-date Clark's (1993) Hey's Mineral Index, volume and page on which they are reported in American Mineralogist (or other publication as noted).
3 Column number.row number.mineral number in Figure 1 of Railsback's 1999 paper on "Patterns in the compositions, properties, and
geochemistry of carbonate minerals" (Carbonates and Evaporites, v. 14, p. 1-20).
4 The status of yoshikawaite is uncertain; its name has never been submitted to the IMA's CNMMN. It may be identical to other hydrated Mg carbonates, and it is not treated as a separate mineral here.
5 Until recently, plumbonacrite had not been found in nature. However, a natural occurrence in association with elyite (Pb4Cu(SO4)(OH)8) was reported in 1997 in Miyawaki, R., Matsubara, S. and Hashimoto, E. (1997): Elyite from the Mizuhiki Mine, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan: Bull. of the National Science Museum, Series C: Geology and Paleontology, v. 23, p. 27-33. Many thanks to Dr. Uwe Kolitsch of the University of Vienna for pointing out to me this new occurrence. Plumbonacrite and other PbO-carbonates are the subject of a series of three papers in Mineralogical Magazine v. 64, p. 1063-1087 (2000).
6 Clark (1993) cites unpublished evidence that barbertonite is identical with stichtite, but it is treated as a bona fide mineral here.
7 Gregoryite was recognized by the IMA's CNMMN around 1980. As of 1996, a full description had not been published (see AM 81:517), but it is retained as a mineral here.
8 Wermlandite has now been identified as a purely sulfate/hydroxyl (non-carbonate) mineral by Rius and Allman (Zeitschrift fuer Kristallographie, v. 168, p. 133-144, 1984).
9 Tarnowitzite is generally regarded as an unnecessary name for Pb-rich aragonite (see AM 65:1069), and in some cases it has been shown to be a mixture of aragonite and cerussite, so it is not included as a mineral here.
10. Breunnerite is generally regarded as an unnecessary name for Fe-rich magnesite, and sideroplesite, pistomesite, and magniosiderite are generally regarded as unnecessary names for Mg-rich siderite. None of them are included as minerals here.
11. Oligonite is generally regarded as an unnecessary name for Mn-rich siderite, so it is not included as a mineral here.
12. Tengerite-(Y) was redefined with IMACNMMN approval as Y2(CO3)3.2-3H2O by Miyakaki et al. (1993, American Mineralogist, v. 78, p. 425-432). The old formula was CaY3(CO3)4(OH)3.3H2O.
13. Georgeite was redefined with IMACNMMN approval as Cu2CO3(OH)2 by Pollard et al. (1991, Mineralogical Magazine , v. 55, p. 163-166). The old formula was Cu5(CO3)3(OH)4.6H2O.
14. Song and Moon (1998, Clay Minerals, v. 33, p. 285-296; abstracted in American Mineralogist 84:687) reported a Co-analogue of reevesite.