New Tourmaline Boron Limits, Classification Updates, Advanced Spectroscopy Methods

A recent experimental study by Julien Fort, Stanislas Sizaret, Michel Pichavant, Arnault Lassin, Johann Tuduri, and Olivier Blein published in the European Journal of Mineralogy (38, 635–654) on 20 October 2026 reports new constraints on the stability of magnesium‑rich tourmaline under hydrothermal conditions. The authors find that the minimum boron concentration required to form tourmaline rises with temperature—from 2 wt % at 400 °C to 3.4 wt % B₂O₃ at 600 °C—providing a useful benchmark for predicting natural fluid–rock interactions and ore deposit formation processes.¹

The International Mineralogical Association’s Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification released Newsletter 93 on 16 October 2026, authored by Ferdinando Bosi, Frédéric Hatert, Marco Pasero, and Stuart J. Mills. It outlines updated criteria for identifying newly discovered mineral species and standardising terminology across the scientific community, continuing an ongoing process of refinement as new discoveries emerge.¹

In another advance, researchers Nils B. Gies, Jörg Hermann, Georgia Cametti, and Sonja Aulbach presented novel methods for Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in European Journal of Mineralogy (38, 583–627) on 15 October 2026. Their approach combines advanced hardware and software solutions to acquire, process, and visualise large numbers of angle‑resolved polarised spectra between 0° and 180°, enabling identification of spectral endmembers in the Si–O overtone region that can be used to find groups of mutually perpendicular spectra, thereby reducing uncertainty in H₂O quantification within anisotropic nominally anhydrous minerals such as pyroxene.¹