CHIASTOLITE TRIP

For those of you that missed the trip last month, you missed a caravan of over 20 cars winding through the foothills near Mariposa and really cool pieces of Chiastolite. It was a perfectly warm sunny day with our 20 cars all pulled over on narrow roads, scouring the countryside for the perfect crystal.

Chiastolite is a form of Andalusite that occurs in contact and regional metamorphic areas. Andalusite is a mineral that's crystal is generally solid pink or reddish brown, with a hardness of 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 that forms in blocky, column like crystals. The crystal form is orthorhombic. This difference between Andalusite and Chiastolite is the cross pattern in the crystal of Chiastolite. The black cross is made by inclusions of carbon or graphite that can be found in metamorphic rocks.

Although Andalusite is found in many places all over the world, Chiastolite is not as common. Besides California, nice crystals are found in only a few places including Arizona, Massachusetts, Australia, China and England. Members of the Massachusetts Archeological Society have found that Native Americans considered it a sacred rock and found in ceremonial archeological sites. Later, white settlers made them into jewelry and brought them back to England for trading. Today you can find these for sale as rough crystals, polished stones and in jewelry.

Sources: www.mindat.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.wickedlocal.com/

Chiastolite from our first stop

Chiastolite from our 2nd stop... in the matrix you could see the white crosses

Our last stop for garnets... and Ernie even found a little speck of gold !

 

 

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