Trabzonite is a rare calcium silicate mineral typically found in high-temperature skarn environments. It usually appears as small, colorless to white bladed or platy crystals often associated with other calc-silicates and carbonates.
Is this trabzonite?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch trabzonite with a known reference. Trabzonite sits at Mohs 5-6 — softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Trabzonite leaves a white streak.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Trabzonite typically shows a vitreous luster.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: white, colorless, pale gray.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: monoclinic. Typical habit: bladed, platy crystals, aggregates.
Often confused with
Trabzonite vs. its common look-alikes — and how to tell them apart in the field.
Often found alongside trabzonite
Minerals reported to co-occur with trabzonite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- Ca₄Si₆O₁₇(OH)₂
- Mohs hardness
- 5-6
- Density
- 2.88 g/cm³
- Streak
- White
- Luster
- Vitreous
- Transparency
- Transparent
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Crystal habit
- Bladed, Platy Crystals, Aggregates
- Cleavage
- Good
- Rarity
- Rare
- Uses
- Collector, Scientific Research
- Host rock
- Skarn Deposits
- Typical price
- $50-300 per specimen
Where rockhounds find trabzonite
Classic worldwide localities
- Ikizdere, Trabzon Province, Turkey
- Fuka mine, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Field-hunting tip
Look in skarn deposits country — that is the host setting where trabzonite typically forms. If you start seeing calcite, quartz, fluorite in float, you are in the right ground. Field specimens usually show a bladed, platy crystals, aggregates habit, so train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop.
Common questions
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Find trabzonite on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
