Mesolite
Mineral Na2Ca2Al6Si9O30·8H2O
Take care.
- Fragile: Handle it gently and pack it well; it breaks or crumbles easily.
About it
Hair-fine white needles in fluffy tufts and starbursts in basalt cavities; the finest come from Pune, India, and the Faroe Islands. Very delicate: never touch the needles.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Silicate (tectosilicate), zeolite group
- Formula
- Na2Ca2Al6Si9O30·8H2O
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 5
- Specific gravity
- 2.25–2.29
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- vitreous (glassy), silky
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Colours
- colourless, white, grey, yellowish
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect prismatic
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.