Alf Olav Larsen (ed), Svein Arne Berge, Frode Andersen, SvenDahlgren, Knut Edvard Larsen and Ingulv Burvald (published 2010)
Size 21,5 x 28 cm, 240 pages, about 600 pictures and drawings of minerals, historical and actual localities, cristal drawings. Hardcover.
In english language.
Brøgger’s 1890 monograph on the minerals of the syeniticpegmatites of what we today call the Larvik plutonic complex was amonumental work and a great achievement. It occupies a single, largevolume of Zeitschrift für Krystallographie. The individual minerals aremeticulously described in 663 pages. In addition, Brøgger included a235 pages long summary of the geology of the whole Oslo Region, aPermian rift system. Brøgger (1851-1940) was 39 years of age at thetime of publication, had worked as a professor of mineralogy atStockholms Högskola since 1881, and became professor at the Universityof Oslo in 1890, the same year his monograph appeared. No doubt therewas a connection between the chair he was offered in Oslo and thepublication of the monograph.
The mineralogical investigation of thesyenitic pegmatites of the famous Langesundsfjord area, in thesouth-eastern part of the Larvik plutonic complex, commenced longbefore Brøgger’s time. Starting with pyrochlore in 1826, eleven newmineral species that are still valid today were described from the areauntil 1877 by people like Wöhler, Esmark, Berzelius, Erdmann, Scheerer,Weibye and Paijkull. These persons are portrayed in the present book.Brøgger was able to describe eight new species in his publications from1884 to 1890. Since then, five new species have been described from thearea, and the editor of the present book has been involved with all ofthem: gadolinite-(Ce) (1978), chiavennite (1983), tvedalite (1992),grenmarite (2004) and eirikite (approved 2007), and was recentlyhonoured by the new species alflarsenite (2009). This leads to a totalof 26 mineral species for which the various sites in the Larvikplutonic complex are type localities.
In this book, A.O. Larsendescribes in detail about 185 minerals from these occurrences. Theinformation on individual localities and mineral associations is avaluable supplement. Such a plethora of minerals is typical of areas ofsyenitic pegmatites elsewhere, and the Larvik pegmatites are in thesame league as the renowned occurrences in the Kola Peninsula (Russia),Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec (Canada) and Ilímaussaq (Greenland).
Thepublication of this up-to-date account by A.O. Larsen and hisco-authors 120 years after Brøgger is a milestone in Norwegianmineralogy. We must remember that it is the work of amateurs andmineral collectors that has contributed most to the knowledge ofNorwegian mineralogy in recent years. It must be noted withembarrassment that Norway is today a country without an academic chairin mineralogy. Typically, it was not possible to publish the presentbook in Norway.
Mr Larsen is not, as you might think, aprofessionally educated mineralogist. Born in 1952, his background isin engineering and electronics. He was 1974 to 1980 employed as atechnician at the Department of Geology, University of Oslo, and hasbeen working since then at the Research Centre of Norsk Hydro (nowStatoilHydro) in Porsgrunn. As a self-taught mineralogist, hisscientific achievements, including involvement in the description ofsix new mineral species, are remarkable.
There is still a lot ofresearch to be done in the Larvik plutonic complex, including themineralogy of the associated syenitic pegmatites. The structure,petrology and geochemistry of the gneissic syenite in theLangesundsfjord area (Brøgger’s ditroite) should be studied by modernmethods. Fluid inclusion studies, mineral chemistry, mineral stabilityrelations and isotope geochemistry of rocks and minerals should proveto be fertile fields of investigation.
Gunnar Raade
(Senior Curator of Minerals Emeritus)
