New Minerals Discovered

Nine years ago, geologist Ramon DeMark spotted some unusual-looking rocks on Cookes Peak in New Mexico. He asked a lab to analyze the rocks’ crystals—solids with a repeating atomic structure. The samples turned out to be three previously unknown minerals, or naturally occurring solid substances with a specific chemical composition and structure. The new minerals were named to honor geologists from New Mexico: raydemarkite (after DeMark), virgilluethite (after Virgil Lueth, former director of the New Mexico Mineral Museum), and stunorthropite (after Stuart Northrop, who wrote the book Minerals of New Mexico).

The International Mineralogical Association recently recognized the three discoveries, adding them to Earth’s growing list of minerals. Currently, there are more than 6,000 known minerals—and 30 to 50 new ones are typically discovered every year.