Garnet

  • What is it and where is it formed?  Garnets are the birthstone for January.  It is a gemstone that can be formed in igneous and metamorphic rocks.  Garnets help scientists understand what’s inside the Earth because there are lots of them in the lower crust and mantle.

  • How and where is it mined?  Most of the time, open pit mining is used to find garnets.  Garnets are mined in Europe, Russia, and South Africa.

  • What is it used for?  Garnets are used in jewelry.  Most of the garnets that are mined aren’t good enough for jewelry.  These are used to make a sand paper that is called garnet paper.   Garnets are used to help sand and polish other things.

  • Interesting Information:

    • Most people think that garnets are only deep, dark red, but they can be any color.

    • Garnets used to be crushed and ground up for people who had fevers.  Superstitious people think that you will be safe if you take garnets with you on a trip.

 Garnet

Willemite Garnet
Mineral Characteristic What the
mineralogists say		 Kid's Guide:  What it REALLY means!
Chemical Symbol CA3Al2(SIO4)3

This stone has calcium, aluminum, silicon, and iron in it.
Color Red, red-brown It is most often found in a dark red color.
Streak White For mineral identification, if you crushed this stone, the powder would be white.
Transparency Transparent You can see through it.
Luster Vitreous It shines like glass when you hold it up to light.
Cleavage None When hit with a hammer, it will not break into recognizable sheets or layers.
Fracture Conchoidal; brittle When it breaks, the surfaces are smooth and shell like. The stone breaks into pieces easily.
Magnetism None It is not attracted to and will not attract a magnet.
Hardness 7 It is a very hard rock and will scratch glass.
Specific gravity 4 If you held this mineral, it would seem heavy compared to its size. 
Crystal Shape Cubic

Cubic