Review of Handbook of Mineralogy. Volume I. Elements, Sulfides, Sulfosalts.

From the American Mineralogist (1992) 77, 1122.

By James R. Craig, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

This volume represents the first in a series "conceived in order to gather in convenient form the data crucial to identification of all mineral species and to provide relatively up-to-date references containing information central to the definition of each species." In large measure the authors have succeeded in their quest and have provide data on 588 distinct mineral species. Although subtitled "Elements, Sulfides, Sulfosalts," the volume also includes alloys, antimonates, arsenites, bismuthinites, intermetallics, selenides, sulfhalides, sulfoxides, and tellurides. Each mineral, listed alphabetically from acanthite (Ag₂S) to zvyagintsevite [(Pd,Pt,Au)₃(Pb,Sn)], is accorded one page, on which is given crystal data, physical properties, optical properties, cell data, X-ray powder pattern, chemistry, occurrence, association, distribution, name, type material location, and references. The information varies in quantity and quality but provides a snapshot of what the mineral looks like, its composition, and its mode of occurrence. With the exception of the chemical analyses (usually two or three plus the ideal formula), the data are probably insufficient for absolute identification but are certainly helpful in confirming a suspected species and providing comparative information.

The authors are to be congratulated for their completeness; it is no small task to have gathered the data for minerals such as cuprorhodesite (CuRh₂S₄), geffroyite (Ag,Cu,Fe)₉(Se,S)_8, imiterite (Ag₂HgS₂), and morozevicite [(Pb,Fe)₃Ge_1-xS₄] as well as more well-known phases such as daomanite (CuPtAsS₂) and uchucchacuaite (AgPb₃MnSb₃S₁₂). It is fun, as well as educational, just to marvel at the variety of minerals and to consider the origins of the names.

For those working on rare minerals, the book is especially valuable in giving references (usually for the original descriptions) and comparative chemical data. Unfortunately, the references for some of the more important minerals are not very up to date; thus the newest citation for pyrrhotite is 1963, that for pyrite is 1969, for sphalerite, 1944, and gold, 1953. Consequently, there is no clarity in distinguishing between the hexagonal and monoclinic varieties of pyrrhotite or among the constraints on the broad range of Fe contents found in sphalerite. Also absent are some of the textural data (e.g., the flame structure of pentlandite, the internal reflections of sphalerite, the development of violarite on pentlandite, and the triangular pits in galena) that are so characteristic and valuable in identification. More serious omissions are the absence of varietal names (e.g., the widely used term electrum), the absence of older names (perhaps now superseded but still found in the older literature), and absence of any chemical listing or index. This last omission is especially serious because, even with some good chemical data, the reader has no easy way to determine what known minerals might be similar. Hence, the reader must know the name of a mineral to locate it in this book.

Despite some shortcomings, this volume will become an important reference and will serve valuably as a starting point for those who encounter rare and unusual minerals.