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Orthoclase, or orthoclase feldspar (endmember formula K Al Si 3 O 8), is an important tectosilicate mineral which forms igneous rock. The name is from the Ancient Greek for "straight fracture", because its two cleavage planes are at right angles to each other.
Sanidine is the high temperature form of potassium feldspar with a general formula K(AlSi 3 O 8). [2] Sanidine is found most typically in felsic volcanic rocks such as obsidian, rhyolite and trachyte. Sanidine crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system. Orthoclase is a monoclinic polymorph stable at lower temperatures.
Potassium feldspar refers to a number of minerals in the feldspar group that contain large amounts of potassium in the crystal lattice. Orthoclase (endmember formula K Al Si 3 O 8), an important tectosilicate mineral that forms igneous rock; Microcline, chemically the same as orthoclase, but with a different crystalline structure
Microcline may be chemically the same as monoclinic orthoclase, but because it belongs to the triclinic crystal system, the prism angle is slightly less than right angles; hence the name "microcline" from the Greek "small slope". It is a fully ordered triclinic modification of potassium feldspar and is dimorphous with orthoclase. Microcline is ...
Sunstone is a microcline or oligoclase feldspar, which when viewed from certain directions exhibits a spangled appearance. It has been found in Southern Norway, Sweden, various United States localities and on some beaches along the midcoast of South Australia.
Feldspar (/ ˈ f ɛ l (d) ˌ s p ɑːr / FEL(D)-spar; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. [3] The most common members of the feldspar group are the plagioclase (sodium-calcium) feldspars and the alkali (potassium ...
The most common moonstone is of the orthoclase feldspar mineral adularia, named for an early mining site near Mt. Adular in Switzerland, now the town of St. Gotthard. [1] [better source needed] A solid solution of the plagioclase feldspar oligoclase +/− the potassium feldspar orthoclase also produces moonstone specimens.
Its base colors include blue-gray, tan, and pink. Fine hematite inclusions are apparently responsible for the pink color. Very few of these potassium feldspar crystals are suitable as a gemstone because they are typically quite brittle and tend to break along cleavage during cutting. The source rock of this material is a biotite gneiss. [5]