For gigapans and thin section images, please see the olivine page.
Physical Properties |
|
| Chemical formula | Mg2SiO4 |
| Class | Nesosilicate Isolated tetrahedra |
| Crystal system | Orthorhombic |
| Habit | Granular Prisms Dipyramids Tabular Crystals large enough to display a distinct habit are rare. Forsterite is more commonly found as small, rounded or embedded grains. |
| Color | Green Colorless |
| Hardness | 6.5 |
| Specific gravity | 3.2 |
| Cleavage | Poor (010) and (100) |
| Fracture | Conchoidal |
| Luster | Vitreous |
| Transparency | Transparent to translucent |
| Streak | White |
Optical Properties |
|
| PPL | Colorless High relief Fractured appearance |
| XPL | High relief High 3rd order colors Fractures and high birefringence combine to make a “stained glass” appearance |
| δ | 0.035 |
| after Perkins, 340-341 |