Name/Title
StilbiteEntry/Object ID
2004.1.83Description
Chemical Composition: NaCa2Al5Si13O36 -14H2O
Crystal System: Monoclinic System
Description: Common Name: Stilibite
Group Name: Zeolite
Chemistry: NaCa2Al5Si13O36 -14H2O
Location: Wagholi, India
Description: Peach colored crystals with green crystals.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:Color is clear or white.
Color is pink or white; also tinted yellow and red.
Luster is vitreous to pearly especially on the prominant pinacoid and cleavage surfaces.
Transparency: crystals are transparent to mostly translucent.
Crystal System is monoclinic; 2/m
Crystal Habits include platy often thin crystals that can aggregate together into a wheat sheaflike structure. The prominant pinacoid is sometimes but rarely modified by other pinacoid and prism faces. Cruciform (cross-like) twins can also be found. Also forms radiating nodules.
Cleavage is perfect in one direction parallel to the prominant pinacoid.
Fracture is uneven.
Hardness is 3.5 - 4.
Specific Gravity is approximately 2.2 (very light)
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals are quartz, calcite, babingtonite, apophyllite, heulandite, natrolite and other zeolites.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, luster, density and associations
Fracture: uneven
Hardness: 3 Calcite
Luster: Vitreous
Occurrence: zeolites in the amygdaloidal cavities of basaltic volcanic rocks; it is sometimes found in granite and gneiss, and exceptionally in hydrothermal veins. It is abundant in the volcanic rocks of Iceland, Faroe Islands, Isle of Skye, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, northern New Jersey and elsewhere. Salmon-pink crystals occur with pale green apophyllite in the Deccan traps near Bombay and Poona, India; white sheaf-like groups encrust the calcite (Iceland-spar) of Berufjord near Djupivogr in Iceland; brown sheafs are found near Paterson, New Jersey in the United States; and crystals of a brick-red color are found at Old Kilpatrick, Scotland.
Notable Occurrences include Poona, India; Scotland; Iceland; New Jersey and Nova Scotia, Canada.
Rock Type: Sedimentary
Specific Gravity: 2.2
Streak: white
Variety: Stilbite is a common and perhaps the most popular zeolite mineral for collectors. Stilbite crystals can aggregate together to form a structure resembling wheat sheafs. This hourglass structure looks like several crystals stacked parallel to each other with the tops and bottoms of this structure fanning out while the middle remains thin. Stilbite's hallmark crystal habit is unique to stilbite and a rarer but related zeolite called stellerite. Whether in the wheat sheafs or not, stilbite can be a hansome specimen with its pearly luster and often colorful pink tints. Stilbite commonly forms nice crystals inside the petrified bubbles (called vesicles) of volcanic rocks that have undergone a small amount of metamorphism.Collection
Suomynona Mineral CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2004.1Source or Donor
Suomynona Mineral CollectionAcquisition Method
DonationDimensions
Width
3-1/2 inDepth
3 inLength
7 inWeight
1.02 ozDimension Notes
Dimension taken at widest pointsLocation
Location
Wall
NorthBuilding
Storage (old gift shop upstairs)Category
PermanentMoved By
Rawley WyattDate
May 16, 2014Location
Drawer
2nd from rightShelf
Bottom East, Bottom EastWall
South CenterHallway
Discovery HallBuilding
Crater Rock MuseumCategory
PermanentMoved By
Scott LonganDate
August 26, 2009Location
Shelf
LeftCabinet
Case # 7Room
Mentzer HallBuilding
Crater Rock MuseumCategory
Permanent
