Collecting Staurolite

Hot Spots In Virginia & Georgia

- STEVE VOYNICK

Staurolite has escaped mineralogical obscurity because of a single trait: Its tendency to form twinned, prismatic crystals that sometimes intersect in the universally recognized configuration of the Christian cross. For this reason alone, staurolite is a favorite at rock shops and gem and mineral shows. It is widely collected, steeped in legend and lore, worn as a goodluck charm, honored as an official state mineral and celebrated as the namesake of a state park.

THE MINERAL

Staurolite, a basic iron aluminum oxysilicate, crystallizes in the monoclinic system. With its Mohs hardness of 7.0 to 7.5 and relatively high specific gravity of 3.7 to 3.8, it is somewhat harder and denser than quartz. Staurolite’s colors range from yellowish-brown an d reddish-brown to brownish-black.

Staurolite has a metamorphic origin and forms from the high-grade alteration of shale. It is primarily hosted by schist, a medium-to-coarse-grained, silvery-gray, foliated, metamorphic rock. Staurolite is closely associated with kyanite, sillimanite, and andalusite, the three polymorphic forms of aluminum silicate.

VIRGINIA & GEORGIA

In the United States, staurolite occurrences are concentrated in the highly metamorphosed rock of the Appalachian Mountains that stretch from Georgia to Maine. Georgia’s most productive collecting sites are found in the northern counties of Cherokee, Fannin, Pickens and Gilmer at such sites as Sharp Top Mountain and Turkey Hill. Recognizing its great popularity among collectors, the Georgia Legislature designated staurolite as the state’s official mineral in 1976.