Rocksday

Uvarovite

An emerald-green chromium garnet that usually forms glittering crusts of tiny crystals on chromite.

Uvarovite specimen
Photo: Géry PARENT, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify uvarovite

  • Druzy crust of tiny, sparkling emerald-green crystals.
  • Crystals rarely larger than a few millimeters.
  • Often on black chromite.

Often confused with

Where it's found

  • Saranovskoye, Ural Mountains, Russia
  • Outokumpu, Finland
  • Turkey

Uses

Collector specimens and druzy jewelry.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling.

Did you know?

It's named after Count Sergei Uvarov, president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

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