Pectolite
Silicate mineral
Pectolite is a white to gray mineral, Na Ca2Si3O8(OH), a sodium calcium hydroxide inosilicate. It crystallizes in the triclinic system typically occurring in radiated or fibrous crystalline masses. It has a Mohs hardness of 4.5 to 5 and a specific gravity of 2.7 to 2.9. A highly sought-after variety known as larimar, is a pale to sky blue. There is also a whitish form of the mineral from Alaska that is sometimes marketed as 'Alaska jade'.
01Occurrence
It was first described in 1828 at Mount Baldo, Trento Province, Italy, and named from the Greek pektos, "compacted" and lithos, "stone".
It occurs as a primary mineral in nepheline syenites, within hydrothermal cavities in basalts and diabase and in serpentinites in association with zeolites, datolite, prehnite, calcite and serpentine. It is found in a wide variety of worldwide locations.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pectolite”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Pectolite-263712.jpg by Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Larimar.jpg by No machine-readable author provided. Vassil assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain
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