Name:

hornblende

A photo of the mineral hornblende

Class:

Silicates

Chemistry:

(Ca,Na,K)2-3(Mg,Fe,Al)5(SiAl)8O22(OH)2 Complex hydro-Silicate

Color(s):

green, brown, black

Hardness:

5 - 6

SpecGrav:

3 - 3.4

Fracture:

uneven

Cleavage:

perfect

Crystal:

Monoclinic (usually long prismatic, sometimes w/ diamond shaped cross-section)

Envronment:

a major rock-forming mineral, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Association:

augite,garnet,biotite,feldspars,quartz,epidote

Locals:

| New Jersey, Idaho, USA | Canada | USSR | Japan |

Misc:

The name comes from a old German miners word, "horn", which may be related to the color of horn, and the German word "blenden", which means "to deceive". It looked like many of the other mineral ores which could be smelted to produce metals, but hornblende failed to be smelted.

Photos
& Locals:

1.) Bear Lake, Ontario, Canada
2.) Bear Lake, Ontario, Canada

3.) Bear Lake, Ontario, Canada

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