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Entry № 220

Green Opal

Common Opal (var. Green)

Opal without fire, coloured by nickel or celadonite instead.

Chakra

Heart

Element

Water · Earth

Zodiac

Cancer · Libra

Green Opal

I. The Metaphysical Reading

How the stone has been held.

Green opal is worked with as a stone of gentle emotional renewal, kept close during grief that is being metabolised slowly. Practitioners hold that it works by softening rather than accelerating.

Chakra
Heart
Element
Water · Earth
Zodiac
Cancer · Libra
Keynote
Opal without fire, coloured by nickel or celadonite instead.

II. The Scientific Reading

What the lattice actually does.

Green opal is a common (non-precious) opal — hydrated amorphous silica without the ordered silica-sphere lattice that produces play-of-colour. Its green tint comes from either trace nickel substituting in the silica gel or included flakes of celadonite, a green iron-rich mica. Peruvian and Madagascan material is among the best-known.

Formula
SiO₂·nH₂O with trace Ni or celadonite inclusions
System
Amorphous
Hardness
5.5 – 6.5 (Mohs)
Provenance
Peru, Madagascar, USA (Oregon), Tanzania, Indonesia

References & Sources

Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.

Mineral Profile

Fact Sheet

Chemical Formula
SiO₂·nH₂O with trace Ni or celadonite inclusions
Crystal System
Amorphous
Mohs Hardness
5.5 – 6.5 (Mohs)
Density
1.98 – 2.20 g/cm³
Refractive Index
1.42 – 1.47
Provenance
Peru, Madagascar, USA (Oregon), Tanzania, Indonesia
Color Origin
Pale apple to mossy green from nickel or celadonite mica

Related Crystals

Stones that share this lattice

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Next in the Atlas

Green Opalised Wood

A tree replaced, cell by cell, with green silica.