Alabaster
Variety CaSO4·2H2O
Take care.
- Damaged by water: Keep it dry: don't wash it, and keep it out of damp places.
About it
Fine-grained massive gypsum, white and translucent, easily carved and scratched with a fingernail. Volterra, Italy, is famous; the ancient Egyptian "alabaster" was banded calcite instead.
- Type
- Variety
- Group
- Gypsum variety
- Formula
- CaSO4·2H2O
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2
- Specific gravity
- 2.31–2.33
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- waxy, vitreous (glassy)
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Colours
- white, cream, pink, banded
- Transparency
- translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect in one direction; thin flakes bend but do not spring back
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.