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WAVELLITE:

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Color is characteristically green but also white, colorless, yellow and brown.

Luster is vitreous.

Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent.

Crystal System is orthorhombic; 2/m 2/m 2/m

Crystal Habit is almost exclusively radiating acicular crystals forming globules or botryoidal masses.

Cleavage is perfect in two directions.

Fracture is uneven.

Hardness is 3.5 - 4.

Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light even for translucent minerals).

Streak is white.

Associated Minerals are quartz, micas, turquoise and limonite.

Other Characteristics: surface of globules often have minute crystals giving off tiny sparkles.

Notable Occurances include Arkansas and Pennsylvania, USA; Bolivia and England.

Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, green color and softness.

Wavellite is a mineral that demonstrates the classic radiating globule crystal habit. In fact, you could say that wavellite is the type mineral for this habit. The habit produces a unique effect when the globules are imbedded in limestone and chert. If the rock is fractured and some of the globules are cleaved through, then a nice radial cluster is seen. The radial cluster will then reflect light to produce a sparkling pinwheel effect. Although broken mineral specimens are generally not valued by collectors, the radial play of light can be rather pretty and makes for interesting specimens. Although, a serious collector might not admit it, the more valuable specimens are those that are predominantly pristine, uncleaved clusters with at least a few cleaved globules to demonstrate the light play.

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