This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 9 in 2020. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
Did you think the tourmaline group was still at 34 minerals? Well, this is not the case. Here comes Dutrowite, the latest addition to a full-bodied family, chemically and structurally complex, so much so that as back as a couple of centuries ago the British writer John Ruskin brilliantly described its chemical composition as “the chemistry of it is more like a medieval doctor’s prescription than the making of a respectable mineral”.
At the moment, very little is known about this new mineral. It may be of interest that this new entry is Italian, having been discovered in the Apuan Alps of Tuscany, near the “Grotta del Vento”. It was formed by the compression and heating of a rock, rhyolite, during the collision between African and European plate about 20 million years ago. Its peculiarity is given by the presence of titanium, associated with iron, in one of the octahedral sites (Na(Fe2+2.5Ti0.5)Al6(Si6O18)(BO3)3(OH)3O).
The newly unearthed tourmaline specimen was named by the group of Italian researchers who discovered it after Dr. Barbara Dutrow, a professor at Louisiana State University, to pay homage to her contribution to mineralogy. Her research has been focusing on mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry for over 25 years representing a reference for the whole scientific community.
She has conducted important insights over the years on tourmalines and their function as a means to record geological information. Dr. Barbara Dutrow said she was honored to receive this privilege reaffirming that such a discovery shows us that there is still much to learn on earth and its many minerals.
Gem News published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #9, Spring 2020
