!["Albite mineral: a gleaming crystalline structure."](https://www.gemfame.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Albite-1.jpg)
Albite: Gemstone InformationÂ
Found widely in greenschist facies metamorphic rocks. In igneous rocks, it occurs principally in pegmatites and in alkali-rich rocks such as nepheline syenites and other feldspathoidal types. Common in spilites and keratophyres.
Albite occurs throughout the world, with major locations in the Alps, Urals, Harz Mountains, France, Norway, Madagascar and the USA (Maine, Virginia, Colorado).
Appearance
Opaque to translucent, rarely transparent. Simple and polysynthetic twinning are ubiquitous, the latter producing fine striations on surfaces.
Luster: Vitreous to pearly
• Color: Usually white, rarely colorless or pale shades of blue, green, pink–orange, reddish or brown. The color of some bluish green albite-oligoclase material is attributed to Pb and OH involving radiation- induced transitions
• Varieties: (see also moonstone) Maw-sit-sit is a rock mainly composed of albite with lesser amounts of Cr-pyroxenes and Cr-amphiboles: RI = 1.54, SG = 2.7. It is named after the locality of origin in Myanmar. Peristerite is the name given to iridescent albite-oligoclase lamellar intergrowths (see also peristerescence and moonstone). The most beautiful peristerite is said to be found at Monteagle, Hastings County, Ontario, and this material has been fashioned into beads and cabochons. An ivory-white peristerite is found in some quantity in the Villeneuve mine, Label County, and at Buckingham, Quebec. Also found at various other localities in Ontario. Platy albite is called cleavlandite.