Pronunciation: STAR•oh•lite (accent on capitalized syllable)
Color: red-brown to brownish black
Luster: resinous to vitreous if not weathered
Diaphaneity: translucent, but may appear to be opaque in hand specimen
Hardness: 7-7.5
Specific gravity: 3.7
Other distinguishing properties: Staurolite occurs in rectangular (prismatic) crystals and as cross-shaped (cruciform) twins in aluminum-rich metamorphic rocks, commonly in association with garnet and kyanite.
Klein, C., and Hurlbut, C.S., Jr., 1999, Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana) [21st edition, revised]: New York, John Wiley & Sons, 682 p.
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, The Photo Atlas of Minerals: nhm.org/pam/
Return to the Minerals page.
