1.2" Andradite Garnet - Inner Mongolia, China

This is a 1.2" wide andradite garnet that was collected from Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia, China. It has been mounted to an acrylic display stand with mineral tack.

Andradite is a species of the garnet group, and although not as well-known as some other types of garnets, such as Almandine or pyrope, it is the most lustrous. It tends to be opaque, so most andradite is not gemstone-quality. It occurs in skarns developed in contact-metamorphosed impure limestones or calcic igneous rocks; in chlorite schists and serpentinites; and in alkalic igneous rocks, often titaniferous.

Andradite comes in three varieties: melanite, colored by titanium substitutions for iron in its formula; topazolite, a rare and yellow-green variety; and demantoid, a striking green variety that is one of the world's rarest and most valuable gemstones.

Garnets are nesosilicates with the general formula X3Y2(SiO4)3. There are many species of garnet, including pyrope, almandine, spessartine, uvarovite, andradite, and grossular (varieties of which are hessonite, cinnamon-stone and tsavorite). Garnets are found in a wide variety of colors including red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, blue, black, pink, and colorless, though reddish shades are the most common.


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DETAILS
SPECIES
Andradite var. Melanite
LOCATION
Hexigten Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, China
SIZE
1.2" wide
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#196976