Almandine is a member of the garnet family. Please see the garnet page for images and videos.
The garnet family also includes grossular, pyrope, and spessartine.
Physical Properties |
|
| Chemical formula | Fe3Al2Si3O12 |
| Class | Nesosilicate Isolated tetrahedra |
| Crystal system | Cubic |
| Habit | Dodecahedral Trapezohedral Usually euhedral to subhedral |
| Color | Deep red |
| Hardness | 7 |
| Specific gravity | 4.33 |
| Cleavage | None |
| Fracture | Conchoidal |
| Luster | Resinous |
| Transparency | Transparent to translucent |
| Streak | White |
Optical Properties |
|
| PPL | High relief Non-pleochroic Colorless, pale, or mottled grey |
| XPL | Isotropic |
| δ | None |
| after Perkins, 338 |
Almandine in Hand Sample
Glorious almandine porphyroblasts in a schist from Alaska