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Download hereThis sample measures 14 x 8.5 x 7 cm, serandite is well represented. Crystals are prismatic, orange-pink colored and measures until 3 cm. One observes a spherical aggregates of leifite colored in light gray-violett.
Acquired thanks to support from Total, this specimen comes from Saint-Hilaire Mount, Quebec, Canada. It has been discovered in 1988. Three main outdoors have been made in this deposit, the great and aesthetic samples which have been found there, measured until 20 cm lenght (1973, 1981 and 1988).
This sample is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.
Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.
SPECIE : Serandite
HISTORY : Species dedicated to J.M. Serand, amateur mineralogist who brought back the first samples
Species first described in 1931 by Alfred Lacroix (1863-1948), French mineralogist and geologist
Type-locality: Rouma Island, Archipelago, Guinea
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Na(Mn,Ca)2 Si3O8 (OH)
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Triclinic
COLOR : Pink, red, salmon, orange
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous to greasy
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Acicular crystals, prismatic, aggregates, massive
HARDNESS : 4,5-5,5
DENSITY : 3,0-3,4
CHEMICAL CLASS : VIII - Silicates
GROUP : Wollastonite-2M - Foshagite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 8/F.18-80
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 9.DG.05
