AUSTRALIAN KYANITE CLUSTER

AUSTRALIAN KYANITE CLUSTER

Australian Kyanite Cluster.  An unusual specimen on a Mica matrix.  Rustic and charming and in a beautiful shade of teal hard to capture in the pics.  Kyanite is a popular crystal and uncommon from Australia.  Many good sized Kyanite crystals are visible on top of the mica.  This cluster comes to you all the way from the Top End where it was carefully fossicked and passed on to make its way to you.  A lovely addition to the Aussie crystal or mineral collection.  Ideal for the collector of Kyanite, which can be found around the world in colours ranging from blue to green to black.  This is a completely natural Australian Kyanite cluster.  A great gift or treat for the crystal lover.  This specimen also shows Fluorescence under longwave UV.

Kyanite: Al₂(SiO₄)O

Named in 1789 by Abraham Gottlieb Werner from the Greek word “kyanos”, meaning “blue,” the common colour of the species. The French spelling, “Cyanite”, was commonly used by mineralogists through much of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kyanite is a polymorph with two other minerals, Andalusite and Sillimanite.  A polymorph is a mineral that shares the same chemistry but a different crystal structure with another, or other minerals.  Kyanite is an attractive mineral that has a near sapphire like blue color in some especially nice specimens.  Kyanite has a unique characteristic in that it has a wide variation in hardness, in the same crystal.  The hardness of Kyanite is approximately 4.5 when scratched parallel to the long axis of the crystal and approximately 6.5 when scratched perpendicular to or across the long axis.  Other minerals usually have variable hardness on different crystal faces due to a different concentration and orientation of the atoms in the structure.  Diamond is one such mineral which gem cutters take advantage.

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