| Mineral | LABRADORITE |
| Chemistry | (CaNa)[(AlSi) 2 Si 2 O 8 ] |
| Class | Silicates |
| Uses | ornamental and semi-precious stone |
| Color | Pale Green blue colourlessgrey-white |
| Luster | Sub-Vitreous |
| Transparency | crystals are transparent to translucent. |
| CrystalHabits | include blocky crystals that rarely form free of the host rock and therefore do not usually show their full crystal forms.In sliced sections of rock, the labradorite appears as blocky chunks with a predominance of near right angled corners.Twinning is common and pervasive so that in labradorite it produces a layered or stacked effect.The twin layers are typically only fractions of millimeters to several millimeters thick.Crystals of labradorite are found imbedded in gabbros and other mafic igneous rocks of low silica content.In anorthosites, labradorite is a main constituent. |
| Cleavage | Perfect |
| Fracture | perfect in one and good in another direction forming nearly right angled prisms. |
| Hardness | 6 - 6½ |
| Streak | White |
| Characteristics | index of refraction is 1.55 - 1.75.Play of colors called labradorescence seen from certain directions can cause flashes of blue, violet and green and sometimes orange and yellow. |
| Occurences | include Labrador, Canada and Scandinavian Pennisula. |
| Indicators | occurence, twinning striations and labradorescence. |
| DensityNote | average |
| OpticalType | Biaxial (+) |
| RI | n α =1.554 - 1.563 n β =1.559 - 1.568 n |
| Birefringence | δ=0.008 - 0.010 |
| SurfaceRelief | Low |
| Strunz | 8/J.07-50 8 : Silicates J : Tectosilicates (network) without anions unfamiliar to the tetraheders 07 : Feldspar groupAnorthoclase - Anorthite - Banalcite series |
| FolkLore | LABRADORITE is believed to Protect a person's aura, helping to keep it balanced, clear, and free from energy leaks. Is said to help bring the transformation of intuition into intellectual thought, so respond to the "instructions". |
