Elza Bohnstedt and Bonshtedtite

1-16

Geologist Elza Bohnstedt-Kupletski and "Bonshtedtite"

by Thomas Allen Bohnstedt, California USA
     (the text of this page is my intellectual property. Please do not copy and repost without my written permission)



Bonshtedtite'



Elza Bohnstedt, daughter of Maximilian Bohnstedt was born in 1897 in St. Petersburg, Russia and was a well-known and respected mineralogist and geologist. She received a university education, perhaps in St.Petersburg or Moscow, and earned a doctorate in geology. She married in 1923 to Boris Kupletski, also a Doctor of Geology. She was mother to two daughters, Natalija and Maria, and grandmother to three.

2. Elza Maximilianovna Bohnstedt, circa 1913. She was perhaps 16 years old in this photo.
3. Elza Bohnstedt-Kupletski, later in life

As a mineralogist, Elza Bohnstedt-Kupletski had earned enough respect during her career that a species of mineral was named for her in 1982, eight years after her death in 1974. The mineral is called "Bonshtedtite".

As the reader can see, those who recorded the name used a phonetic spelling. In it's original German form, Bohnstedt is pronounced "Bonshtedt", with an "sh" sound. No doubt, when this branch of the Bohnstedt family moved to Russia and began spelling their name using Russian, or Cyrillic, characters, they simply used a phonetic spelling. When it was translated back from Russian, phonetic spelling was once again applied, thus the name "Bonshtedtite", rather than "Bohnstedtite". Regardless of this misspelling, the mineral was named for Elza Bohnstedt-Kupletski.

4. 'Bonshtedtite' was found in several locations on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, and named for mineralogist Elza Bohnstedt-Kupletski in 1982

Bonshtedtite was first found in a drill core from the Vuonnemiok River Valley, and on Mts. Suoluaiv, Kukisvunchor, Partomchorr, and Rest'yun, Khibiny Massif, and also in a drill core from the Kovdor massif, Kola Peninsula.

5. Topics in Phosphate Chemistry, 1996, by A. Durif and Marie-Therese Averbuch-Pouchot
6. Structural Classification of Minerals, 2003, by Jose Lima-de-Faria

Structural Classification of Minerals by Jose Lima-de-Faria (2003), lists Bonshtedtite with the chemical structure

Na₃(Fe,Mg,Mn)(PO₄)(CO₃)

and places it under "minerals not yet classified". However, an earlier work; Topics in Phosphate Chemistry by Durif and Averbuch-Pouchot (1996), seems to place Bonshtedtite within the phosphate-carbonate group, and gives it's chemical structure as

FeNa₃(PO₄)(CO₃)

Book References:
- Lima-de-Faria, Jose. Structural Classification of Minerals. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2003 (ISBN 1402011199)
- Durif, A. and Averbuch-Pouchot, Marie-Therese. Topics in Phosphate Chemistry. World Scientific. 1996 (ISBN 9810226349)

See Also:
1-15 / The Bohnstedt Line in Russia and The Descendants of Eduard Ludwig Bohnstedt
1-40 / Genealogy 1-4: Russia

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