Faujasite - Encyclopedia
Class : Silicates
Subclass : Tectosilicates
Crystal system : Cubic
Chemistry : (Na2,Ca)Al2Si4O12 8H2O
Rarity : Very rare
Faujasite is a very rare zeolite, the one whose structure is the most airy due to very spacious channels. Its deposit is classic for a zeolite : it is found in the vacuoles of basalts, sometimes phonolites and more rarely in altered volcanic tuffs. It was named in honor of the French mineralogist and volcanologist Barthélémy Faujas de St Fond. Faujasite forms octahedral crystals of 4 mm at most, frequently agglomerated into centimeter-sized aggregates. It is colorless, white, bluish or light brown.
Main photo : Twinned faujasite from Limberg Quarries, Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl, Baden-Württemberg, Germany © Volker Betz
Faujasite in the World
Twinning
Spinel twins are quite common and can be multiple.
Fakes and treatments
No fake listed for this mineral species.
Hardness : 5
Density : -
Fracture : Undeterminated
Streak : White
TP : Transparent
RI : -
Birefringence : 0
Optical character : None
Pleochroism : None
Fluorescence : None
Solubility : -
Magnetism : None
Radioactivity : None