Entry № 123
Datolite
Calcium Boron Silicate Hydroxide
A glassy borate of basalt cavities and copper country.
Chakra
Third Eye · Heart
Element
Earth · Air
Zodiac
Virgo
I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Datolite is worked with as a stone of retained memory, kept nearby during study, oral history and the recording of family stories. Practitioners hold it as a reminder that recollection is a physical act.
- Chakra
- Third Eye · Heart
- Element
- Earth · Air
- Zodiac
- Virgo
- Keynote
- A glassy borate of basalt cavities and copper country.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Datolite is a calcium boron silicate that occurs in two forms: transparent prismatic crystals lining basalt cavities (notably at Dalnegorsk, Russia and Bergen Hill, New Jersey) and dense white to pastel porcelaneous nodules from the Keweenaw copper district of Michigan, where the nodules often contain native copper inclusions.
- Formula
- CaBSiO₄(OH)
- System
- Monoclinic
- Hardness
- 5 – 5.5 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- USA (Michigan – Keweenaw, New Jersey), Russia (Dalnegorsk), Italy, Mexico
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- CaBSiO₄(OH)
- Crystal System
- Monoclinic
- Mohs Hardness
- 5 – 5.5 (Mohs)
- Density
- 2.96 – 3.00 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.622 – 1.670
- Provenance
- USA (Michigan – Keweenaw, New Jersey), Russia (Dalnegorsk), Italy, Mexico
- Color Origin
- Pale green to colourless glassy prismatic crystals; opaque porcelaneous nodules
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Dendritic Agate
A stone in which forests grow inside quartz.
