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553338 
Journal Article 
CALCMIN - an EXCEL(TM) Visual Basic application for calculating mineral structural formulae from electron microprobe analyses 
Brandelik, A 
2009 
Yes 
Computers and Geosciences
ISSN: 0098-3004 
35 
7 
1540-1551 
English 
WOS:000267970500019 
CALCMIN, an open source Visual Basic program, was implemented in EXCEL(TM). The program was primarily developed to support geoscientists in their routine task of calculating structural formulae of minerals on the basis of chemical analysis mainly obtained by electron microprobe (EMP) techniques. Calculation programs for various minerals are already included in the form of sub-routines. These routines are arranged in separate modules containing a minimum of code. The architecture of CALCMIN allows the user to easily develop new calculation routines or modify existing routines with little knowledge of programming techniques. By means of a simple mouse-click, the program automatically generates a rudimentary framework of code using the object model of the Visual Basic Editor (VBE). Within this framework simple commands and functions, which are provided by the program, can be used, for example, to perform various normalization procedures or to output the results of the computations. For the clarity of the code, element symbols are used as variables initialized by the program automatically. CALCMIN does not set any boundaries in complexity of the code used, resulting in a wide range of possible applications. Thus, matrix and optimization methods can be included, for instance, to determine end member contents for subsequent thermodynamic calculations. Diverse input procedures are provided, such as the automated read-in of output files created by the EMP. Furthermore, a subsequent filter routine enables the user to extract specific analyses in order to use them for a corresponding calculation routine. An event-driven, interactive operating mode was selected for easy application of the program. CALCMIN leads the user from the beginning to the end of the calculation process. 
Structure formula; End member content; Fe2+/Fe3+ estimation; Electron microprobe; Normalization