Tourmaline with albite with unique Laser cut
Tourmaline with albite is a rather interesting mineral association typically occurring in pegmatite and other granite hosting rocks. In this combination:
Tourmaline
is a complex borosilicate mineral most commonly known in black as Schorl, green as Verdelite, pink as Rubellite, and Blue as Indicolite. It usually occurs as prismatic crystals and is extremely hard with a reading of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale.
Albite is a sodium containing feldspar mineral, a member of the plagioclase series and has a white, transparent to almost colorless crystal. It is also significant in geology since it is one of the rock-forming minerals.
If both minerals are present in the same place, the result may be spectacular samples; I love to do this because it creates high contrast and as a result all the tourmaline crystals will stand out sharply in an albite matrix. The contrast of colours in tourmaline and the stark white or clear albite can sometimes be strikingly beautiful.
This combination can also be of interest to geologists because further descriptions of the chemical composition and physical conditions of the minerals, the environment in which they were formed could be received. For example, tourmaline is mostly used of indicating high boron concentrations in a given area while albite suggest relatively low metamorphic or pegmatitic area.
