Rocksday

Wavellite

An aluminum phosphate that forms green radiating discs, like pinwheels, on rock fractures.

Wavellite specimen
Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify wavellite

  • Flat green 'pinwheel' circles on rock surfaces.
  • Radiating needle-like fibers.
  • Hardness about 4.

Often confused with

Where it's found

  • Mauldin Mountain, Arkansas
  • Devon, England
  • Bolivia

Uses

Collector specimens.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling.

Did you know?

It's named after William Wavell, the physician who found it in Devon.

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