Clinohumite
Mineral (Mg,Fe)9(SiO4)4(F,OH)2
About it
Usually brown grains in marble and serpentinite, but bright orange gem crystals from the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and from Siberia are cut as rare gems.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Silicate (nesosilicate), humite group
- Formula
- (Mg,Fe)9(SiO4)4(F,OH)2
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 6
- Specific gravity
- 3.17–3.35
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- vitreous (glassy)
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Colours
- yellow, orange, brown, white
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- poor; conchoidal fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.