Комиссия IMA по новым минералам и названиям минералов: нормы и рекомендации по номенклатуре минералов, 1998 ВВЕДЕНИЕ

The Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (hereafter abbreviated as CNMMN) of the International Mineralogical Association was established in 1959 for the purpose of controlling the introduction of new minerals and mineral names, and of rationalizing mineral nomenclature. Since that time, the work of CNMMN has gained overwhelming support from the international mineralogical community. The CNMMN consists of representatives appointed by national mineralogical bodies, and an executive committee consisting of chairman, vice-chairman and secretary. A list of current members is given in Appendix I.

The activities of the CNMMN, and its various recommendations for mineral nomenclature, have been widely published in a substantial number of mineralogical journals over a number of years; there is a clear need to consolidate these reports to provide an up-to-date account of the procedures currently followed by the CNMMN and updated guidelines on mineral nomenclature. In this paper, which represents a consensus of CNMMN members, and which has benefitted from their suggestions, we attempt to do that. It incorporates material from previous reports on mineral nomenclature and procedures of the CNMMN, including general papers such as those by Hey et al.(1961), Fleischer (1970), Donnay & Fleischer (1970), Dunn & Mandarino (1988), Mandarino et al. (1984) and Nickel & Mandarino (1987), as well as papers on more specific topics, which will be referred to in the body of this paper. This paper is therefore a revised update of the procedures employed by the CNMMN and of general guidelines for mineral nomenclature.

It must be understood that the CNMMN does not wish to impose an arbitrary set of rigid rules on the mineralogical community, but rather to provide a set of coherent guidelines that provide a reasonably consistent approach to the introduction of new minerals and the application of mineral nomenclature. The guidelines presented herein probably apply reasonably well to the great majority of cases, but inevitably situations arise that do not conform so readily. As is mentioned several times in the text, each case must be judged on its own merits.