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, 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.
