Epidote

A pistachio-green metamorphic mineral. Mixed with pink feldspar it forms the popular stone 'unakite'.

Epidote specimen — Photo: Gleb Korovko, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify epidote

Distinctive pistachio to dark green.
Striated prisms.
Hardness 6–7.
Commonly fills cracks in altered rocks.

Often confused with

Olivine
Olivine is a brighter bottle green, glassy and grainy.
Compare side by side
Tourmaline
Tourmaline has a triangular cross-section.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Prince of Wales Island, Alaska
Knappenwand, Austria
Unaka Mountains, North Carolina

Uses

Collector specimens and, as unakite, tumbled stones and beads.

Rock tumbling

Great for tumbling.

Did you know?

Unakite is named after the Unaka Mountains on the North Carolina–Tennessee border.

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