Serpentinite
Rock made of serpentine, magnetite
Common
A green, mottled rock of serpentine minerals, said to be named for its likeness to snake skin. Soft and easy to carve; the Inuit carved their oil lamps from it.
Rock
- Kind of rock
- Metamorphic rock
- Rock family
- Ultramafic rock (peridotite, serpentinite)
- Also contains
- Brucite
- Metals
- Iron
- How it forms
- Sea water pressed deep under the ocean floor hydrates mafic and ultramafic rock, at mid-ocean ridges and above subduction zones (serpentinisation).
- Uses
- Decorative stone and verd antique, carved lamps and tools, stove bases, and neutron shielding.
Identity
- Also known as
- Serpentine rock, Verd antique (breccia)
Crystallography
- Habits
- Massive, Fibrous
Physical properties
- Luster
- Waxy, Silky
- Colors
- green, dark green, black
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Metamorphic
- Geography
- Cyprus (Troodos), Oman (Semail), USA (California, Pennsylvania), Italy, Greece, Turkey, New Caledonia
Classification
- Rarity
- Common
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- Serpentinite. Wikipedia.
- S. Robertson, BGS Rock Classification Scheme, Volume 2: Classification of metamorphic rocks (Research Report RR 99-02). British Geological Survey, 1999.
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