Serpentinite
Rock
Also called Serpentine rock and Verde antique
Take care.
- Can shed asbestos fibres: Keep it in a closed box, and never break, saw, sand, or scrape it.
About it
Smooth, waxy, mottled green rock formed when water altered mantle peridotite; it feels slippery and often shows shiny slickensides. Some carries veins of chrysotile asbestos, so avoid its dust. The state rock of California.
- Type
- Rock (metamorphic)
- Group
- Metamorphic (hydrated ultramafic)
- Specific gravity
- 2.4–3.1
- Lustre
- waxy, greasy
- Colours
- green, dark green, black, yellow-green, mottled
- Transparency
- translucent, opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; uneven to splintery fracture
- Magnetic
- Weakly
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.