摘要
With regard to the number of mineral species first dis-covered in a particular country, Italy ranks fourth, being preceded only by USA, Russia and Germany. Important rock-forming minerals like analcime, anorthite, anortho-clase, antigorite, celadonite, diopside, dolomite,forsterite, humite, leucite, lime, lizardite, magnesiochlo-ritoid, magnesite, nepheline, and sepiolite are among the 240 species first discovered in Italy. Other significant first Italian findings are some important index mineralsof the UHP metamorphism (ellenbergerite, phosphoel-lenbergerite, magnesiodumortierite, and magnesiostau-rolite; second occurrence of coesite) which were discov-ered in the well-known and first reported UHP outcrop of the Dora-Màira massif Italy is also the native land of about 30 zeolites and of the two most abundant modern species: balangeroite and carlosturanite, which are rock-forming asbestos-like minerals of serpentinites in the western Alps.
