Staurolite

specimen number:
2354051

location:
Pestsovye Keivy, Lovozersky, Murmansk Oblast, Russia

description:
An excellent example of a twinned of starlight crystalline flat across a schist matrix. This is a very large crystal and in great condition. All terminations reached to the end of the matrix.

Situated in the Keivy Mountains within the Lovozersky District of Murmansk Oblast on the Kola Peninsula of Russia, Pestsovye Keivy is famous for its regionally metamorphosed Precambrian metamorphic schists rich in aluminum. The locality underwent intense regional metamorphism, giving rise to high-grade metamorphic rocks such as kyanite and mica schists filled with well-formed porphyroblasts. Geologists and field collectors have long prized this remote Arctic locality for producing exceptional specimens of twinned staurolite crystals. These staurolite formations occur as dark reddish-brown to black prismatic crystals that frequently form striking interpenetration twins, displaying classic 60-degree X-shaped or 90-degree cross-shaped geometries sharply set against a shimmering matrix of fine-grained mica schist.

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