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Murzinka
By Valentina L Popova, Vladimir A. Popov, A. Kanonerov. Editor Igor V Pekov. Mineralogical Almanac, Volume 5, 2002 (www. webcenter.ru/~minbooks).
Volume 5 of Mineralogical Almanac, the Murzinka issue, does not describe the Murzinka pegmatites or hydrothermal quartz veins but rather the most important mines of the Alabashka Pegmatite Field, Murzinka region. On page 3 the authors explain that specimens from this field have historically been labeled simply "Murzinka" rather than "Alabashka (Granitic) Pegmatite Field, Murzinka"; the publisher has chosen "Murzinka" as the book's title simply because this well-known name so often appears on Alabashka specimen labels in collections. The Alabashka Pegmatite Field is a few kilometers north of the village of Murzinka, but is topographically and geographically somewhat separated from the pegmatites that are clustered around Murzinka.
The issue is the finest of the recent softcover Mineralogical Almanac publications, not only because its superb photography and printing quality are much better than in previous issues, but even more importantly because its text, written by dedicated experts in the field, is very detailed and thorough.
The introduction is short and easily read. Perhaps a small-scale map pointing out the location of the Urals in Russia could have been provided, but three good maps do show the region's location within the Urals, and pinpoint specific mines of the Alabashka Pegmatite Field. However, one caption reads "Scheme showing location of mines in the Murzinka region," and this is incorrect, since the Murzinka region really covers a much vaster area to the south.
Included in the introduction is also a table covering twelve of the Alabashka Granite pegmatites and the minerals which have been found in the respective mines, and indicating each mineral's abundance in volume or weight percent. This reviewer, having studied the veins and dumps in the field, has the impression that some of the species are, in fact, less abundant than noted in the table. For example, the table notes beryl as being 1% to 10% of the material in five of the veins, but in none of the four veins out of the five that I have visited have I seen any signs suggesting a beryl content of even 1%. The Kazennitsa mine has produced a few kilograms of gem or specimen-quality beryl for...