CANASITE: Bur’atskaja, Urals, Siberia, USSR (~2 inches across). Photo © Joel E. Arem, PhD, FGA. Used with permission.
Canasite
The material usually seen on the market as “canasite” is purplish in color. It is frequently confused with another purplish material, a member of the serpentine family known as stichtite. However, stichtite occurs in elongated fibers that have a kind of lustrous sheen, almost asbestiform, whereas canasite is granular. Recent research seems to indicate that, in fact, the material being called “canasite” has no canasite in it but is a new, distinct species.
OPTICS: a = 1.534; β = 1.538; γ = 1.543
Biaxial (-), 2V, ~53°
OCCURRENCE: Occurs in pegmatite in the Khibina Tundra, USSR
COMMENTS: The material usually seen on the market as “canasite” is purplish in color. It is frequently confused with another purplish material, a member of the serpentine family known as stichtite. However, stichtite occurs in elongated fibers that have a kind of lustrous sheen, almost asbestiform, whereas canasite is granular. Recent research seems to indicate that, in fact, the material being called “canasite” has no canasite in it but is a new, distinct species.
NAME: From the composition: Ca, Na, and Si.
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