Best viewed using Adobe Flash Player (8 or higher).
Download here

Albite

MNHN-NC

visu_489 infos

FROM : Urucum mine, Galilea, Minas Gerais, Brazil
SIZE : 12 x 8 x 8,5 cm

general description

This specimen is made up of an aggregate of albite crystals, forming a sphere which is crossed by muscovite crystals. The albite is white and transparent, its crystals are lamellate (cf detail 1). Muscovite is silvery and foliated.

This specimen arises from the Urucum mines in the Minas Gerais in Brazil. It was acquired thanks to the annual acquisitions of the Museum in 2007 at the Denver Mineral show. The sample is kept in the storage rooms of the collections (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography and 3D view: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire, © MNHN.

Download

The Species page

Identity card

SPECIE : Albite

HISTORY : Name derived from Latin "albus" meaning white, Name given for its color

Species first described in 1815 by Johan Gottlied Gahn (1745-1818) and Jöns Jacob Berzélius (1179-1848), Swedish chemists

Type-locality: Finnbo, Kopparberg, Suède

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Na Al Si3 O8
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Triclinic
COLOR : White to gray, greenish, blueish
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous to pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Crystals often tabular
HARDNESS : 6,0-6,5
DENSITY : 2,609-2,621

CHEMICAL CLASS : IX - Silicates
GROUP : Feldspath plagioclase
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 8/J.07-20
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 9.FA.25

back

Mineralogy

Explore the Mineral Treasures of the Muséum

Welcome to
the Virtual Gallery of Mineralogy

This site was made possible thanks to support from TOTAL

VIEW FULL SCREEN

VERSION FRANÇAISE