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Schorl

Silicate Minerals

Schorl is the sodium iron (divalent) end member of the tourmaline group and the most common tourmaline species, which may account for 95 percent or more of all tourmaline in nature. The name was in use before 1400, because a village known today as Zschorlau in Saxony, Germany, was then named Schorl and black tourmaline was found at a nearby tin mine; the species forms brownish-black to black crystals. Opaque black schorl has a high magnetic susceptibility because of its high iron content, and schorl is usually found in granite and granite pegmatite. In this atlas it is the mineral species that black tourmaline records.

Facts
Kind
Mineral 1
Hardness (Mohs)
7.25 1
The Wikipedia article gives a range of 7.0 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale for tourmaline as a group; 7.25, the midpoint, is used here for schorl.
Classification
Crystal System
Trigonal (Rhombohedral) 1
Classification
Silicate Mineral 1
Use
Gemstone 2
Connections

Classified As

Crystallizes In System

In Discipline

In the Other Atlases

Mineral Species Of

Also in Divinity Atlas: of this mineral species.

Also in Divinity Atlas: of this mineral species.

Sources
1. Tourmaline (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Schorl, lead paragraph
    The most common species of tourmaline is schorl, the sodium iron (divalent) endmember of the group.
  • Schorl, article text
    It may account for 95% or more of all tourmaline in nature.
View the Source
2. minerals.net: Schorl
minerals.netUses
Quote, Uses
Schorl is occasionally used in jewelry as a black gemstone
View the Source
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