APPLICATIONS: | Mineral specimens. |
ASSOCIATED MINERALS: | Diopside, andradite, quartz, calcite, epidote, scheelite and prehnite. |
CHEMICAL STRUCTURE: | Ca2(Mn, Fe, Mg)Al2(BO3OH)(SiO3)4, Calcium Manganese Iron Magnesium Aluminum Borosilicate Hydroxide. |
CLASS: | Silicates. |
CLEAVAGE: | Good in one direction. |
COLOR: | Commonly a lilac brown but also yellow, yellow-orange, gray, pale blue and even black. |
CRYSTRAL HABITS: | Flattened wedge shaped crystals, often with a spatula or knife-like shaped edge. Also, as granular and as parallel bladed aggregates. |
CRYSTAL SYSTEM: | Triclinic, bar 1. |
FIELD INDICATORS: | Crystal habit, hardness, color and striations. |
FRACTURE: | Conchoidal. |
GENERAL INFORMATION: | Axinite series - Ferro-axinite, Magnesio-axinite, Manganaxinite and Tinzenite. Crystals are heavily striated on some faces and manganese rich axinites have been known to be fluorescent red. |
GROUP: | Madera County, California and Franklin, New Jersey, USA; Baja California, Mexico; Bahia, Brazil; Switzerland; Obira, Japan; Cornwall, England and France. |
HARDNESS: | 6 - 7.5. |
LUSTER: | Vitreous. |
TRANSPARENCY: | Transparent to translucent. |
SPECIFIC GRAVITY: | 3.0 - 3.4. |
STREAK: | White. |
SUBCLASS: | Cyclosilicates. |
