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Tartan Twinning Crossed-polars
Indicative of K-feldspars (Microcline).
Kyanite
Formula:Al2(SiO4)O
System: Triclinic
Hardness: 5.5 - 7
Name: Name in 1789 by Abraham Gottlieb Wener from the greek word “kyanos”, meaning “blue,” the common color of the species.
Characterized by its bladed crystals, good cleavage, blue color, and different hardness in different directions.
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5 Favorite Green Minerals.
Malachite
It is the most common secondary mineral found in the oxidized zones of copper deposits. Incredibly eye-catching display of bright green colors and unique formation. May be present on your piping!
Pyrite
Formula: FeS2
System: Isometric
Color: Gold, Brass-Yellow
Hardness: 6-6½
Name: Named in antiquity from the Greek “pyros” for “fire” because sparks flew from it when hit with another mineral or metal.
Corundum
Formula: Al2O3
System: Trigonal
Hardness: 9
Name: Derived from the Sanskrit, kuruvinda (“Ruby”).
The red (Cr-bearing) gem variety is called Ruby.
The blue (Fe and Ti-bearing) gem variety is called Sapphire.
Topaz
Formula: Al2(SiO4)(F,OH)2
System: Orthorhombic
Hardness: 8
Name: Named after Topasos Island in the Red Sea. In antique times, the name was probably used for the gemstone that is now known as peridot.
Topaz is a mineral formed by fluorine-bearing vapors given off during the last stages of solidification of siliceous igneous rocks.
Hematite
Formula: Fe2O3
System: Hexagonal
Hardness: 5.5 - 6.5
Name: From the Greek, haimatites, “bloodlike” in allusion to vivid red color of the powder.
Hematite is rather variable in its appearence - it can be in reddish brown, ocherous masses, dark silvery-grey scaled masses, silvery-grey crystals, and dark-grey masses, to name a few. What they all have in common is a rust-red streak.
(Galena in Spessartine matrix.)
Galena
Formula: PbS
System: Isometric
Harndess: 2.5
Name: From Greek “galene”, lead ore.
Galena is the primary ore mineral of lead. Worked for its lead content as early as 3000 BC, it is found in ore veins with sphalerite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, fahlore etc., skarns, and in sedimentary rocks as beds or impregnations. The crystals are bright when fresh but often receive a dull tarnish after exposure to air.
Some Fluorescent Minerals
Fluorescence is a characteristic of some minerals, such that they luminesce with exposure to UV light, X-rays, or cathode rays. Minerals that are classified as phosphorescent continue to luminesce after exposure to the exciting rays.
Fluorescence is an unpredictable property, usually caused by the presence of certain trace ions. Therefore, not all specimens of the same minerals will display fluoresce, neither will all minerals of a specific locality.
This property is the light emitted when the ions of transition metals in some minerals fall back to their initial state after becoming excited to higher energy levels by the invisible short radiation.
Fluorite
Formula: CaF2
System: Isometric
Hardness: 4
Name: From the Latin, fluere = “to flow” (for its use as a flux). The term fluorescence is derived from fluorite, which will often markedly exhibit this effect. The element fluorine also derives its name from fluorite, a major source for the element.
Staurolite
Formula: (Fe, Mg, Zn)1.5-2Al9(SiO4)4O6(OH,O)2
System: Monoclinic
Hardness: 7 - 7.5
Name: From Greek “stauros”, a cross, alluding to the cruciform twins it displays in some cases.
Diopside
Formula: CaMgSi2O6
System: Monoclinic
Hardness: 5½ - 6½
Name: From the Greek for “double” and “appearance”, in allusion to two possible orientations of the prism zone.
