teristics in a time scale and at an overall cost which would

greater use ot these methods in industr~ and research.

justit~

SMITH Dorian G.W. and LEIBOVITZ David P., Department of Geology, Unjversity of Alberta,
EDMONTON, Alberta, CANADA
A COMPUTER-BA~ED SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS ON TI BASIS OF
COMPOSITION AND OTIR PROPERTIES
Developments in the teclmiques, theory and practice of microbeam analysis over the
last quarter century have resulted in 8 sitLation in which reliable compositional data can now
be obtained extremely rapidly and conveniently_ However, the interpretation of these data is
not always so straightforward or rapid, particularly when the microanalyst is not a fully
trained mlneraiogist or when data are obtained from one of the les8 common minerals or from
one of a group of compositionally similar minerals. Furthermore, certain modern procedures
for the automated modal analysis of rocks and other mineral aggregates require that a very
large number of identifications be performed - preferably without human intervention. The
system described) n this paper has been developed in response to such situations.

The system uses a purpose-developed FORTRAN IV computer program "MINIDENT"

different parts of which permit the creation of analytical data files, the processing of these
files to produce an "index", and the searching of the index to find the best matches with an

unknown. Although the system is b~8Bed primarily on compositional data, several other
properties, such 8S reflectance, refractive indices, VHN, density, etc., have been included and
can be used with (or without) compositional data to seek a match with an unknown. Each
mineral entry is cross referenced to the appropriate JCPDS file number. MINIDENT produces
a list of the most likely matches and prints these together with an estimated 'reliability
factor' for each match. The program can also be used to produce an alphabetical list of all
minerals with certain properties - e.g., thosa. containing 8 particular element or element
combination, those which have refractive indices within 8 certain range, etc. It can also be
used to print 8 summary of the information included in the dafB-base for a given mineral.
New data can be added by means of MINIDENT and is instantly included in the data base for
use in subsequen\ searches. Considerable emphasis has been placed on making the interactive
computer software easily used and understood.

Although MINIDENT is capable of providing an identifica~ion and/or list of the most

likely possibilities very rapidly and on the basis of minimal input information t it is not
intended that it should supercede the JCPDS powder diffraction index. That index will
normally provide the more definitive answer, although the time and effort expended in making
the identification will usually be much greater. A combination of the two systems also seems
possible. The normal input of d-spacings and intensities to a program searching the JCPDS
files cpuld be augmented by the output from MINIDENT, thereby greatly reducing the search
time involved.
At the time of preparation of this abstract, (September 1983) the basic data for more
than 2000 minerals, minerals groups or mineral series are on file and these afe being added to
as time and funds permit. In future, it may prove possible to add other fields to this data
base - not only with 8 view to making more positive identifications but also to allowing the
retrieval of a more complete summary of available information on the mineral once an
identification has been made.

169