WinSpingc, a Windows program for spinel supergroup minerals

Abstract

A Microsoft® Visual Basic software, called WinSpingc, has been developed to calculate and classify wet chemical and electron-microprobe spinel supergroup mineral analyses based on the New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMMN) of the International Mneralogical Association (IMA-19) nomenclature scheme. The program evaluates the 60 approved species according to the dominant valance and constituents in the general AB2X4 formula for the spinel, ulvospinel, carrollite, linnaeite, tyrellite and bornhardtite subgroups that belong to the oxyspinel, thiospinel and selenospinel groups. Mneral analyses of the oxyspinel group are calculated based on 3 cations and 4 oxygen atoms per formula unit, whereas the formulae of thiospinel and selenospinel analyses are on the basis of 7 atoms per formula unit. Employing the anions of spinel supergroup mineral analyses, the program first assigns three groups on the basis of dominant X anion, including 02~, S2~ and Se2~, determines subgroups according to the cation charge arrangement combinations and then defines the spinel species in each subgroup based on the dominant valance and constituents. The Fe3+ and Fe2+, as well as the Mn3+, Mn2+, Co3+ and Co2+ contents from microprobe-derived total FeO, MnO and CoO (wt. %) amounts, are estimated by stoichiometric constraints. WinSpingc allows the users to enter total 57 input variables for groups as well as to type and load the multiple spinel supergroup compositions in the data entry section, to edit and load the Mcrosoft® Excel files in calculating, classifying and naming the spinel species, and to store all the calculated parameters in the Mcrosoft® Excel file for further evaluations. The program is distributed as a self-extracting setup file, including the necessary support files used by the program, a help file, and representative sample data files.