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Formula: Mg3Si2O5(OH)4
Phyllosilicate (sheet silicate), serpentine subgroup
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 2.0 to 2.6
Hardness: 2½ to 4
Streak: White
Colour: Green, grey to black, white, brownish
Solubility: Insoluble in water, nitric and sulphuric acid; soluble in hydrochloric acid forming an insoluble silica gel
Environments:
Carbonatites
Metamorphic environments
Chrysotile is a major constituent of serpentinite, that is usually formed
at very low temperature from peridotite by low-grade metamorphism. It
occurs with other
serpentine minerals such as
antigorite and
lizardite.
Localities
The Two Mile and Three Mile deposits, Paddy's River, Paddys River District, Australian Capital Territory, Australia,
are skarn deposits at the contact between
granodiorite and volcanic rocks.
Chrysotile occurs in banded marble at the Three Mile deposit,
associated with chlorite and
magnetite, and with minor amounts of
tremolite, talc,
hematite and quartz
(AJM 22.1.35).
At Mianning County, Liangshan Yi, Sichuan, China, chrysotile has been found
(AESS).
Chrysotile from Mianning County - Image
Amity, Town of Warwick, Orange county, New York, USA, is an area of
granite intrusions into
marble and associated
gneiss. The marble is
mostly composed of white crystalline calcite that often has small flakes
or spheres of graphite and
phlogopite. Chrysotile is a low-temperature mineral that occurs
in fibrous crystal masses to 30 cm in marble
(R&M 96.5.435).
Alteration
See results for serpentine, which is a group of minerals including
antigorite,
chrysotile and lizardite, all of which share the same formula, although
they have slightly different structures.
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