Seraphinite is a trade name for a particular form of

clinochlore The chlorites are the group of phyllosilicate minerals common in low-grade metamorphic rocks and in altered igneous rocks. Greenschist, formed by metamorphism of basalt or other low-silica volcanic rock, typically contains significant amounts o ...

, a member of the

chlorite group The chlorites are the group of phyllosilicate minerals common in low-grade metamorphic rocks and in altered igneous rocks. Greenschist, formed by metamorphism of basalt or other low-silica volcanic rock, typically contains significant amounts ...

. Seraphinite apparently acquired its name due to its resemblance to feathers due to its

chatoyancy In gemology, chatoyancy ( ), or chatoyance or cat's eye effect, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones, woods, and carbon fibre. Coined from the French "œil de chat", meaning "cat's eye", chatoyancy arises either from the ...

. Seraphinite is named after the biblical seraphs or seraphim angels. With some specimens the resemblance is quite strong, with shorter down-like feathery growths leading into longer "flight feathers"; the resemblance even spurs fanciful marketing phrases like "silver plume seraphinite." Seraphinite is generally dark green to gray in color, has chatoyancy, and has hardness between 2 and 4 on the

Mohs scale of mineral hardness The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by th ...

. Seraphinite is mined in a limited area of eastern Siberia in Russia. Russian mineralogist

Nikolay Koksharov Nikolai Ivanovich Koksharov (russian: Николай Иванович Кокшаров, links=no) (23 November (5 December), 1818 – 21 December (2 January), 1893) was a Russian mineralogist, crystallographer, and major general in the Russian ar ...

(1818-1892 or 1893) is often credited with its discovery. It occurs in the Korshunovskoye iron

skarn Skarns or tactites are hard, coarse-grained metamorphic rocks that form by a process called metasomatism. Skarns tend to be rich in calcium-magnesium-iron-manganese-aluminium silicate minerals, which are also referred to as calc-silicate minerals ...

deposit in the

Irkutskaya Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

Oblast of Eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

.Seraphinite on Mindat
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References

Gemstones Phyllosilicates {{mineral-stub