Resize Text: There are about 880 mineral species reported from Arizona. Of these, 72 are type or cotype minerals (they were first found in Arizona).
This article presents a short description of the etymology of the names of the 72 minerals and gives the type locality for each. Of the type minerals of Arizona, 49 are named for people, and 17 are named for the locality where they were found. The other 6 are named for their chemistry, a physical property, or some combination of names. As of the writing of this article, three additional minerals have been approved by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) as new species with type localities in Arizona. Because the original scientific descriptions have not yet been published, we have chosen not to include them here per IMA protocol.
Raymond Grant, a retired geology professor, is a coauthor of the 3rd edition of the Mineralogy of Arizona and is currently working on the 4th edition.
Harvey Jong is a photographer who uses digital technologies to visualize minerals in new, creative ways and is compiling photos for the 4th edition of the Mineralogy of Arizona.
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