Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Achubi, Shigar, Pakistan
SIZE : 10 x 2 x 1.5 cm

This sample is an isolated crystal of zoisite mesuring 10 x 2 x 1.5 cm, and coming from Achubi in Pakistan. It has a decided pleochroism which makes its colour to vary from green to yellow-brown depending on the view angle.

Acquired thanks to support from Total, it is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.
3D View: Alain Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Zoisite

HISTORY : Species dedicated to Earl Siegmund Zoïs (1747-1819), Austrian naturalist and mineralogist

Species first described in 1805 by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), German geologist, Bergwerk Akademie, Freiberg, Germany

Type-locality: Saualpe, Carinthia, Austria

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca2 Al3 (SiO4)3 (OH)
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Colourless, gray, white, blue, pink, greenish
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Prismatic crystals
HARDNESS : 6,7
DENSITY : 3,35

CHEMICAL CLASS : VIII - Silicates
GROUP : Zoisite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 8/C.23-100
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 9.BG.10

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Zoisite

MNHN N°193.2

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