Sapphirine is a rare mineral, a silicate of magnesium and aluminium with the chemical formula (Mg,Al)₈(Al,Si)₆O₂₀ (with iron as a major impurity). Named for its sapphire-like colour, sapphirine is primarily of interest to researchers and collectors: well-formed crystals are treasured and occasionally cut into gemstones. Sapphirine has also been synthesized for experimental purposes via a hydrothermal process. This article is about minerals in the geologic sense; for nutrient minerals see dietary mineral; for the band see Mineral (band). ... A chemical formula (also called molecular formula) is a concise way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound. ... In mineralogy, shape and size give rise to descriptive terms applied to the typical appearance, or habit of crystals. ... Rose des Sables (Sand Rose), formed of gypsum crystals In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups. ... Cleaveage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types: Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes. ... A fracture is the separation of a body into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress. ... Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer. ... Lustre (American English: luster) is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock or mineral. ... The parameter used to describe the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter is the complex index of refraction, , which is a combination of a real part and an imaginary part. ... A calcite crystal laid upon a paper with some letters showing the double refraction Birefringence, or double refraction, is the division of a ray of light into two rays (the ordinary ray and the extraordinary ray) when it passes through certain types of material, such as calcite crystals, depending on... Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon where due to double refraction of light by a colored gem or crystal, the light is divided into two paths which are polarized at a 90° angle to each other. ... In any mineral, its streak refers to the color of its powder. ... Relative density (also known as specific gravity) is a measure of the density of a material. ... Fusibility is the ease with which a material will melt. ... A solvent is a liquid that dissolves a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution. ... This article is about minerals in the geologic sense; for nutrient minerals see dietary mineral; for the band see Mineral (band). ... In chemistry, a silicate is a compound consisting of silicon and oxygen (SixOy), one or more metals, and possibly hydrogen. ... General Name, Symbol, Number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 24. ... General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... A chemical formula (also called molecular formula) is a concise way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... Asterism on the surface of a sapphire Sapphire is the single-crystal form of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), a mineral known as corundum. ... Quartz crystal A crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. ... A gemstone is a mineral, rock (as in lapis lazuli) or petrified material that when cut or faceted and polished is collectible or can be used in jewellery. ... Synthesis (from the Greek words syn = plus and thesis = position) is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation. ... Hydrothermal circulation in the oceans is the passage of the water through mid-ocean Ridge (MOR) systems. ...

Properties

Typical colours range from light to dark sapphire blue, bluish to brownish green, green, and bluish or greenish gray to black; less common colours include yellow, pale red, and pink to purplish pink. Sapphirine is relatively hard (7.5 on Mohs scale), usually transparent to translucent, with a vitreous lustre. Crystallising in the monoclinic system, sapphirine is typically anhedral or granular in habit, but may also be tabular or in aggregates: Twinning is uncommon. Fracture is subconchodial to uneven, and there is one direction of perfect cleavage. The specific gravity of sapphirine is 3.54–3.51, and its streak is white. Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer. ... Lustre (American English: luster) is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock or mineral. ... In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups. ... In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... In mineralogy, shape and size give rise to descriptive terms applied to the typical appearance, or habit of crystals. ... A twin boundary occurs when two crystals of the same type intergrow, so that only a slight misorientation exists between them. ... A fracture is the separation of a body into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress. ... Cleaveage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types: Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes. ... Relative density (also known as specific gravity) is a measure of the density of a material. ... In any mineral, its streak refers to the color of its powder. ...

Sapphirine's refractive index (as measured by monochromatic sodium light, 589.3 nm) ranges from 1.701 to 1.718 with a birefringence of 0.006–0.007, biaxial negative. Refractive index values may correspond to colour: brownish green specimens will possess the highest values, purplish-pink specimens the lowet, and blue specimens will be intermediate between them. Pleochroism may be extreme, with trichroic colours ranging from: colourless, pale yellow or red; sky to lavender blue, or bluish-green; to dark blue. There is no reaction under ultraviolet light. The parameter used to describe the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter is the complex index of refraction, , which is a combination of a real part and an imaginary part. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sodium, Na, 11 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 3, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 22. ... A calcite crystal laid upon a paper with some letters showing the double refraction Birefringence, or double refraction, is the division of a ray of light into two rays (the ordinary ray and the extraordinary ray) when it passes through certain types of material, such as calcite crystals, depending on... Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon where due to double refraction of light by a colored gem or crystal, the light is divided into two paths which are polarized at a 90° angle to each other. ... Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength shorter than that of the visible region, but longer than that of soft X-rays. ...

Formation and occurrence

While there is evidence of magmatic origin in some deposits, sapphirine is primarily a product of high grade metamorphism in environments poor in silica and rich in magnesium and aluminium. However, sapphirine occurs in a variety of rocks, including granulite and amphibolite facies, calc-silicate skarns, and quartzites; it is also known from xenoliths. Associated minerals include: calcite, chrysoberyl, cordierite, corundum, garnet, kornerupine, kyanite, phlogopite, scapolite, sillimanite, spinel, and surinamite. Metamorphism can be defined as the mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes in a solid-state rock, i. ... The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is the oxide of silicon, chemical formula SiO2. ... Granulite (Latin granulum, a little grain) is a name used by petrographers to designate two distinct classes of rocks. ... Amphibolite is a gouping of rocks composed mainly of amphibole (as hornblende) and plagioclase feldspars, with little or no quartz. ... The term facies refers to all of the characteristics of a particular geologic unit or one of its components, including the petrographic, lithographic, and paleontological aspects. ... Skarn is a fine grained metamorphic rock that is usually variably colored green or red, occasionally grey, black, brown or white. ... Quartzite Quartzite is a hard, metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. ... A xenolith (Greek: foreign rock) is a rock which becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latters development and hardening. ... Calcite from Brushy Creek Mine, Missouri, USA. The mineral calcite is a calcium carbonate corresponding to the formula CaCO3 and is one of the most widely distributed minerals on the Earths surface. ... The mineral or gemstone chrysoberyl, not to be confused with beryl, is an aluminate of beryllium with the formula BeAl2O4. ... Cordierite is a cyclosilicate of magnesium and aluminium. ... Corundum is the crystalline form of aluminium oxide and one of the rock-forming minerals. ... The Garnet group of minerals show crystals with a habit of rhombic dodecahedrons and trapezohedrons. ... Kyanite The mineral kyanite is an aluminium silicate of the sillimanite group (along with andalusite and sillimanite), also called alumino-silicate. ... Phlogopite is a yellow, greenish or reddish brown member of the mica family of phyllosilicates. ... Scapolite (Gr. ... Sillimanite: Biotite gneiss (Mesozoic and Paleozoic) Sillimanite is an alumino-sillicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. ... Spinel is one of a group of minerals which crystallize in the isometric system with an octahedral habit, and whose chemical compositions are analogous. ...

Large crystals of fine clarity and colour are known from very few locales: The Central Province (Hakurutale and Munwatte) of Sri Lanka has long been known as a source of facetable greenish blue to dark blue material, and crystals up to 30 mm or more in size have been found in Fianarantsoa (Betroka District) and Toliara Province (Androy and Anosy regions), southern Madagascar. Sapphirine's type locality is Fiskenaesset (Fiskenaes), Nuuk region, western Greenland, which is where the mineral was discovered in 1819. The Central Province of Sri Lanka consists primarily of mountainous terrain. ... Categories: Stub | Provinces of Madagascar ... Categories: Stub | Provinces of Madagascar ... Nuuk from the air Nuuk (The Cape) (Danish/Norwegian: Godthåb, which translates to Good Hope in English) is the capital and largest city of the self-governing Danish territory of Greenland. ... 1819 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Other notable localities include: Western Hoggar, Algeria; the Napier complex of Enderby Land and the Vestfold Hills of Antarctica; Delegate, New South Wales and the Strangways Range of the Northern Territory, Australia; Wilson Lake, Labrador; Donghai, Jiangsu province, China; Kittilä, Lapland, Finland; Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, France; Waldheim, Saxony, Germany; Dora Maira Massif, Province of Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy; Ulstein, Møre og Romsdal, and Meløy, Nordland, Norway; the Messina District of Limpopo Province and the Okiep Copper District of Northern Cape Province, South Africa; Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden; Mautia Hill in the Kongwa region of Central Province, Tanzania; Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland; the Bani Hamid area of Semail Ophiolite, United Arab Emirates; the Dome Rock Mountains of La Paz County, Arizona, Stockdale, Riley County, Kansas; Cortlandt, New York; and Clay County, North Carolina. Motto: Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine) Nickname: First State, Premier State Other Australian states and territories Capital Sydney Government Governor Premier Const. ... Motto: None Nickname: ? Other Australian states and territories Capital Darwin Government Administrator Chief Minister Const. ... This article is about the region in Canada. ... Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese: 江苏; Traditional Chinese: 江蘇; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. ... Kittilä is a municipality of Finland and a popular holiday resort. ... Languages Sami, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian Area - Population  - Sami  - Non-Sami - (Year) - (Year) Independence None¹ Time zone UTC +1 to +3 ¹/ Integrated parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia respectively, but with varying degrees of autonomy for the Sami population. ... Ariège is a département in southwestern France named after the Ariège River. ... Capital Toulouse Area 45,348 km² Regional President Martin Malvy (PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 8th) 2,687,000 2,551,687 59/km² (2004) Arrondissements 22 Cantons 293 Communes 3,020 Départements Ariège Aveyron Gers Haute-Garonne Hautes-Pyrénées Lot... With an area of 18,413 km² and a population of 4. ... Cuneo is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. ... Piedmont is a region of northwestern Italy. ... County Møre og Romsdal Landscape Sunnmøre Municipality NO-1516 Administrative centre Ulsteinvik Mayor (2003) Hannelore Måseide (Ap) Official language form Nynorsk Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 389 97 km² 95 km² 0. ... Møre og Romsdal is a county in the northernmost part of the Vestlandet region of Norway, and borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. ... County Nordland Landscape Salten Municipality NO-1837 Administrative centre Ørnes Mayor (2005) Arild Kjerpeseth (Ap) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 127 873 km² 798 km² 0. ... Nordland is a county in Norway, bordering Troms and Nord-Trøndelag. ... Limpopo (until 11 June 2003 Northern Province; before 1994 the region was part of the Transvaal) is the northernmost province of South Africa. ... Northern Cape is a province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. ... Falkenberg is a Municipality in Halland County, in southwest Sweden. ... Halland County, or Hallands län, is a County or län on the western coast of Sweden. ... This article is about Harris in Scotland. ... The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles (officially known by their Gaelic name, Na h-Eileanan Siar) comprise an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country in northwest Europe and a constituent nation of the United Kingdom. ... La Paz County is located in the western part of the U.S. state of Arizona. ... Riley County (standard abbreviation: RL) is a county located in the state of Kansas. ... this place is sooooo cool, come and visit me! ... Clay County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. ...

See also

• List of minerals

Gem animals. ...

External link

• Mindat.org: Sapphirine