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Apatite, number 5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, is one of the first minerals that students of geology learn. Because it was commonly confused with other minerals, apatite was not recognized as a distinct mineral species until the late 18th century. The name apatite is derived from the Greek wordά which means "to deceive." Despite what early mineralogists may have thought of its "deceptive" nature, over the next two centuries apatite was gradually recognized to be the most common phosphate mineral in the Earth’s crust and lithospheric mantle where it subsequently acts as a major reservoir for P, F, Cl, OH, CO2, and many trace elements including the rare earths. This issue introduces apatite as a ubiquitous accessory mineral, which is also related to a supergroup family of over 40 other minerals, and then explores its multi-varied roles as a recorder of both terrestrial and extraterrestrial metasomatic and igneous processes, as a thermochronometer over a wide pressure-temperature range, and as a mineral with numerous technological and biological applications.

PDF Archive for June 2015, Volume 11, Number 3

Table of Contents

Articles

• Structurally Robust, Chemically Diverse: Apatite and Apatite Supergroup Minerals by John M. Hughes and John F. Rakovan
• Apatite: A Fingerprint for Metasomatic Processes by Daniel E. Harlov
• Magmatic Apatite: A Powerful, Yet Deceptive, Mineral by James D. Webster and Philip M. Piccoli
• Extraterrestrial Apatite: Planetary Geochemistry to Astrobiology by Francis M. McCubbin and Rhian H. Jones
• Geochronology and Thermochronology Using Apatite: Time and Temperature, Lower Crust to Surface by David M. Chew and Richard A. Spikings
• A Technological Gem: Materials, Medical, and Environmental Mineralogy of Apatite by John F. Rakovan and Jill D. Pasteris

Departments

• Participating Societies
• Editorial Growing Pains of Big Data
• From the Editors Clarifying the Etymology of Apatite
• People in the News
• CosmoElements Catching a Falling Star (or Meterorite) – Fireball Camera Networks in the 21st Century
• Mineral Matters Boron – The Crustal Element
• Meet the Authors
• Book Review Large Igneous Provinces
• Book Review The Dynamics of Disaster
• Calendar
• Parting Shots Bon Apatite!

Society News

• AAG
• CMS
• DMG
• EAG
• GS
• IAG
• IAGC
• IMA
• JAMS
• MAC
• MetSoc
• MinerSoc
• MSA
• SEM
• SFMC
• SIMP