Determinations of Crystal Structures in the Descriptions of New Species of Mineral

Abstract

A mineral substance is defined as a naturally occurring solid that has been formed by geological processes, either on earth or in extraterrestrial bodies by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (CNMMC-IMA). A mineral species is defined with the chemical composition and crystallographic properties. So far approximate 4,300 mineral species have been endorsed and approved by the CNMMC-IMA. The crystal structure is the fundamental key of the crystallography in the description of mineral. Owing to the recent developments in the hardware and software for crystal structure analysis, many of new mineral species have been described with data of crystal structures. Minor differences in atomic arrangement such as chemical orderings provide the information on the genesis of mineral.