Entry № 155
Garnierite
Nickel-Bearing Serpentine
An apple-green stone that grew where nickel weathered.
Chakra
Heart
Element
Earth
Zodiac
Taurus
I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Garnierite is worked with as a stone of grounded growth, kept in the herbalist's kitchen and any practice that tends new life. Practitioners hold it as a reminder that the green of nickel weathering is still the green of a living hillside.
- Chakra
- Heart
- Element
- Earth
- Zodiac
- Taurus
- Keynote
- An apple-green stone that grew where nickel weathered.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Garnierite is a field term rather than a single mineral species — it covers a family of hydrous nickel-magnesium silicates (chiefly nickel-bearing serpentine, talc and sepiolite) formed by the tropical weathering of ultramafic peridotite. It is the principal ore of lateritic nickel deposits, and New Caledonia hosts the type locality.
- Formula
- (Ni,Mg)₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄ (variable)
- System
- Monoclinic (varies)
- Hardness
- 2 – 4 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- New Caledonia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Australia
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- (Ni,Mg)₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄ (variable)
- Crystal System
- Monoclinic (varies)
- Mohs Hardness
- 2 – 4 (Mohs)
- Density
- 2.2 – 2.8 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.56 – 1.59
- Provenance
- New Caledonia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Australia
- Color Origin
- Bright apple-green to seafoam masses coloured by nickel substitution
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Gaspeite
A rare green carbonate from oxidised nickel ore.
