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Al-silicates
Andalusite in a muscovite-biotite schist. Note the diamond-shaped inclusion cloud to the
bottom left, which is the center of the crystal, and the inclusion trails that radiate from the
corners of the diamond. This is known a "chiastolite cross". Note the small garnet just to
the below the diamond. Two cleavages intersecting at approximately right angles are visible.
NEIGC84-C5-2
Andalusite in a muscovite-biotite schist. Note the isotropic garnet, and the inclusion-rich
area at the top-right.
NEIGC84-C5-2
Kyanite in a muscovite-biotite schist. The four kyanite crystals are colorless, have high
relief, and two have a strong cleavage parallel to their length. Relief is much higher than
muscovite, which surrounds the kyanite.
TMW96-C4b
Kyanite in a muscovite-biotite schist. The kyanite crystals are have interference colors up
to upper 1st order, much lower than the surrounding muscovite. Most sections yield slightly
inclined extinction, as expected from its triclinic symmetry.
TMW96-C4b
JBT2-XA
Sillimanite fibers (var. fibrolite) in a biotite-andalusite-muscovite schist. Sillimanite has
birefringence up to 2nd order blue, somewhat higher than kyanite and much higher than
andalusite. Extinction is parallel as required by its orthorhombic symmetry. These fibers are
so thin they scarcely have any birefringence.
JBT2-XA
Sillimanite in a biotite-garnet-cordierite schist. This granulite facies schist has very coarse
sillimanite prisms which can be seen in long section and in their diamond-shaped cross
sections..
WE-1
WE-1
JBT2-XA
JBT2-XA
WE-1
WE-1
Cordierite in a garnet-cordierite-biotite schist. Magnified view of yellow pleochroic halos
surrounding radioactive inclusions..
WE-1
WE-1
Staurolite in a muscovite-biotite schist. Staurolite has parallel extinction and one cleavage,
and has a characteristic pale to darker golden yellow pleochroism. This example has a twin.
Gassetts Schist
Gassetts Schist
Staurolite in a muscovite-biotite schist. Closeup view of the end of a staurolite crystal, with
garnet in the upper left (slightly higher relief) and muscovite in the upper right (lower relief).
Gassetts Schist
Gassetts Schist
IMA96-C4B
IMA96-C4B
IMA96-C4B
Chloritoid in a muscovite-chlorite phyllite. The chloritoid also has much higher birefringence
than the chlorite..
IMA96-C4B
East Clairindon, VT
East Clairindon, VT
East Clairindon, VT
East Clairindon, VT
Amphiboles
Actinolite in a greenstone. These actinolite crystals are very pale green, and here occur as
stubby crystals. These are probably pseudomorphs after augite phenocrysts in the basalt
protolith.
NNH-3
NNH-3
Q-603C
Q-603C
Q-603C
Gedrite in a gedrite-cordierite-biotite gneiss. Gedrite has colors that range from colorless to
gray to green to brown. Gedrite is commonly associated with aluminous minerals like
cordierite, garnet, staurolite, and aluminosilicates, as well as with other amphiboles.
Anthophyllite is another, less aluminous orthoamphibole, separated from gedrite by a
miscibility gap defined principally by Na and Al content.
IMA86-G2-1
Gedrite in a gedrite-cordierite gneiss. Gedrite has lower birefringence than the monoclinic
amphiboles, typically in the upper 1st order.
IMA86-G2-1
W95
IG16-36
IG16-36
Pyroxenes
Omphacite in a glaucophane schist. Omphacite is an Na-Ca-Mg-Al pyroxene, and is the
location of some of the albite component in this feldspar-free rock. The omphacite is pale
green and non-pleochroic.
IG16-36
Omphacite in a glaucophane schist. Like most clinopyroxenes, omphacite has lower second
order birefringence.
IG16-36
Sheet silicates
Talc in a soapstone (metamorphosed harzbergite). Talc is colorless and resembles muscovite
or colorless phlogopite but is much softer. In hand specimen the two are easy to tell apart:
the soapy feel of talc is unlike that of the much harder micas.
4.6.84A
4.6.84A
Talc in a soapstone (metamorphosed harzbergite). This talc crystal has been rotated to
extinction, but there are many small areas in the large central grain that are not extinct because
of surface damage caused by the thin section grinding process. The micas and calcite have
this surface damage effect too, but not so strongly.
4.6.84A
4.6.84A
4.6.84A
W95
Rutile in a cordierite-gedrite gneiss. Rutile has very high birefringence, rarely seen except in very small
or thin crystals or fibers. Typically, the pastel high order interference colors take on the yellow-brown
color of the mineral.
W95