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Chabazite Gemstone: Properties, Meanings, Value & More

菱沸石寶石：屬性、含義、價值等

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Chabazite (pronounced KAH-buh-zite) is a series of minerals in the zeolite family, though “chabazite” can be used to refer to any of the minerals individually.

What are the colors of chabazite? These gemstones are usually colorless or white but can be orange, yellow, salmon, green, or pink.

Is chabazite a natural zeolite? Yep, chabazite minerals are natural and common zeolite minerals. However, scientists also use synthetic chabazite for various industrial and research purposes.

In terms of rarity, chabazite minerals are abundant but facetable material is quite rare.

Want to learn more? Read on to learn all about chabazite uses, gemstone properties, prices, powers, and history!

Pictured above: Chabazite-Ca | Image credit: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

About Chabazite Stone

Chabazite is a group of semi-precious gemstones rarely found in cut form. Other names for chabazite include:

• Chabasite

• Kabazite

• Natronchabazit

• Seebachite

• Glottalite

• Acadialite / Acadiolite / Acadiolithe

• Cubic Zeolite / Cubiocite (obsolete misnomers)

The last names in that list came from early observations that chabazite crystals appeared cubic, but later analysis found that they’re actually only pseudo-cubic.

Industrially, what is chabazite used for?

Chabazite Uses

Most chabazite zeolite minerals used industrially are synthetic materials that share chabazite’s structure (called “CHA”) but not exact composition. One example is SSZ-13, which has a silicon to aluminum ratio not found in natural chabazite.

SSZ-13 is used like many zeolites as a catalyst and adsorbent in products like car exhausts and air purifiers, respectively.

Synthetic and natural chabazite (particularly chabazite-Na) has also been used as a molecular sieve to adsorb gasses and liquids, like removing carbon dioxide from methane in landfill gas. It’s also used as an ion exchanger (e.g. removing radioactive ions or metals from sewage released into rivers) and a desiccant (drying agent).

Natural chabazite’s ability to exchange or remove (desorb) ammonium cations (NH4+) is useful in agriculture. Additionally, a 2016 study showed that chabazite could remove methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions (water with dissolved substances).

Image credit: Leon Hupperichs

Chabazite Specifications & Characteristics

Since chabazite is technically a series of minerals, the chabazite formula varies. The minerals are in the chabazite-lévyne subgroup of the larger zeolite group.

This subgroup’s formula is M[Al2Si4O12]·6H2O, where M can be Ca, Na2, K2, Mg, or Sr — calcium, disodium, dipotassium, magnesium, or strontium. (More on these in the next section!)

Chabazite is closely related to levynite and gmelinite (once called “soda-chabazite”). Gmelinite is a rarer zeolite subgroup containing gmelinite-Ca, gmelinite-K, and gmelinite-Na.

When occurring as crystals, chabazite can be rhombohedral and pseudo-cubic — often resembling somewhat crushed cubes — or tabular. Crystals often display contact or penetration twinning. The mineral can also occur as aggregate crusts or granular masses.

The optic sign of chabazite varies between uniaxial (+) or uniaxial (-), with some being anomalously biaxial possibly due to their water content.

What are the properties of chabazite crystals? Here they are listed:

• Mohs hardness: 4-5

• Color: Colorless, white, yellow, orange, pink, salmon, red, brown, green

• Crystal structure: Triclinic - Chabazite-Ca; Trigonal (Hexagonal) - all others

• Luster: Vitreous (glassy)

• Transparency: Transparent to translucent

• Refractive index: 1.465-1.507; Varies by mineral - Chabazite-Mg lowest (1.465-1.469) & Chabazite-Sr highest (1.503-1.507)

• Density: 2.05-2.20; Varies slightly by mineral

• Cleavage: Distinct/good in 1 direction on all but Chabazite-Mg (no cleavage)

• Fracture: Uneven/irregular

• Streak: White

• Luminescence: None

• Pleochroism: None

• Birefringence: 0.002-0.006; Varies slightly by mineral; Chabazite-Mg & Chabazite-Sr: 0.004; Chabazite-K & Chabazite-Na: 0.002-0.005; Chabazite-Ca: 0.002-0.006

• Dispersion: None

Pictured above: Chabazite-Na, aka "herschelite" | Image credit: Didier Descouens, CC-BY-SA-4.0

Types of Chabazite

The chabazite subgroup has 5 chabazite minerals, each distinguished by a prominent cation indicated as the element added at the end of each one’s name.

1. Chabazite-Ca: Calcium-dominant; Formula = (Ca,K2,Na2)2[Al2Si4O12]2·12H2O; Most common member of the group

2. Chabazite-K: Potassium-dominant; Formula = (K2,Ca,Na2,Sr,Mg)2[Al2Si4O12]2·12H2O

3. Chabazite-Mg: Magnesium-dominant; Formula = (Mg0.7K0.5Ca0.5Na0.1)[Al3Si9O24]·10H2O

4. Chabazite-Na: Sodium-dominant; Formerly named herschelite; Formula = (Na2,K2,Ca,Sr,Mg)2[Al2Si4O12]2·12H2O

5. Chabazite-Sr: Strontium-dominant; Formula = Sr2[Al2Si4O12]2·12H2O

Other types of chabazite to know are:

• Haydenite: Type of chabazite-Ca; Pale yellow-orange to golden-brown; Contact twinning common; Usually transparent

• Phacolite: Colorless chabazite with a lens shape caused by multiple rhombohedrons twinning

• Acadialite: Reddish chabazite from Nova Scotia, Canada; Former French name was Acadie

The term “phacolite” derives from the Greek term fakós, meaning “lentil” or “lens.” The terms “herschelite” and “seebachite” are sometimes used as synonyms for phacolite.

Chabazite Meaning & History

Chabazite symbolizes reflection, meditation, and organization.

The first description of chabazite came from Austrian mineralogist Ignatius von Born in 1772. He named it zeolithus crystallisatus cubicus Islandiae, Latin for “Icelandic cubic crystallized zeolite.”

Another proposed name was zéolite en cube, French for “cubed zeolite,” which came from French mineralogist Jean-Baptiste Louis Romé de l'Isle in 1783.

French botanist and entomologist Louis-Augustin Bosc d'Antic chose the name “chabasie” in 1792 (though other sources state the year as 1780 or 1788), which was altered to “chabazite” later.

The etymology of d’Antic’s name is fascinating, though a little confusing.

Chabazite Name Origins

The name “chabasie” derives from the Greek term chabazios, meaning “tune or melody.” The name itself comes from the ancient Greek poem “Peri Lithos,” said to be written by Greek mythological figure Orpheus.

It gets a bit confusing here, since the real source of this term is the “Orphic Lithica”, a 4th-century AD poem and treatise credited to Pseudo-Orpheus. The treatise describes various healing properties and rituals of a number of gemstones.

In the “Orphic Lithica”, the stone in question is called “chalazias” which is said to cure snake bites, fevers, and anger. Where did the “b” come from? Probably a misspelled translation of the poem from the 1700s. All that said, it’s unclear what stone “chalazias” referred to, though chabazites have been found in nearby areas like Greece and Cyprus.

All the suffixes for chabazite minerals came in 1997, when the International Mineralogical Association confirmed that chabazite was a series, not an individual mineral.

Pictured above: Chabazite spheres | Image credit: Modris Baum, Public Domain

Chabazite Healing Properties

As a commonly white healing stone, chabazite has the cleansing and protective properties of white gemstones. It’s also used as a crown chakra stone.

Physical Healing

Physically, chabazite is said to help with issues related to:

• Addiction

• Goiters (enlarged thyroid)

• Bloating

• Heart problems

Emotional Healing

Emotionally and mentally, chabazite crystals are believed to help you:

• Meditate

• Center & still your mind

• Release anger in a healthy way

• Learn information more quickly

Image credit: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Chabazite Gemstone Properties

Chabazite value depends on the stone’s color, cut, clarity, transparency, and carat weight.

Color

Chabazite is usually colorless or white, but it can also come in pale but more colorful hues like pink, salmon, yellow, red, orange, brown, or greenish. More saturated coloring can be more valuable.

Most faceted stones are small and pink or colorless.

Cut

Chabazite isn’t difficult to facet except for its low hardness and rarity in facetable form. It can be hard to find cut chabazite gems, even in museums.

Usually, chabazite is sold rough (uncut).

Clarity & Transparency

Clarity describes the number of visible inclusions in a gemstone, which can affect its transparency and value. Though chabazite can be transparent to translucent, fully transparent gems are quite rare, making them more valuable.

Chabazite has been found as an inclusion in some rare precious and hydrophane opals.

Carat Weight & Size

Chabazite crystals don’t grow incredibly large, and chabazites that have been cut are quite small, almost always under 2 carats.

Speaking of the crystals, how does chabazite form?

Image credit: Chris857, CC-BY-SA-3.0

Chabazite Formation & Sources

Zeolite mineral formation often follows a sequence, with one mineral altering into the next based on external conditions and the rock they’re forming inside of.

For example, in volcanic rocks, mesolite can alter into scolecite, which can alter into chabazite.

What type of rock is chabazite found in? Chabazite minerals form in gaseous cavities of altered volcanic rocks like basalt and other igneous rocks. They can also form in hot spring deposits.

Mining Locations

Where is chabazite found? Significant sources of chabazite include:

• Australia

• Canada

• Cyprus

• Czechia

• Denmark (Faroe Islands)

• France

• Germany

• Greece

• Greenland

• Hungary

• Iceland

• India

• Ireland

• Italy

• Russia

• Scotland

• Slovakia

• USA (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont)

Sedimentary chabazite deposits are often sources of industrial chabazite. These are primarily in:

• Bulgaria

• Hungary

• Italy

• Jordan

• USA

Sources aside, how much does chabazite cost?

Pictured above: Chabazite-Ca with calcite | Image credit: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Chabazite Price & Value

Given how hard it is to find cut chabazite gems, it’s unsurprising that their prices are quite steep.

Faceted chabazite gems are around $1,400 to upwards of $2,500 per carat! (Though keep in mind, most are under 1 carat, so their overall price will be lower.)

You’re more likely to find rough chabazite.

The most expensive rough crystals are around $300 to $400, often on a matrix with another rare stone like heulandite.

On the lower end, you can find small chabazite crystals for around $3 each.

Chabazite Care and Maintenance

Onto gemstone care, chabazite is quite soft, so it’s susceptible to scratches. You should store them separately from other gemstones.

Chabazite jewelry is scarce, but if you do find some, it should have protective settings.

You can clean chabazite with mild soap, warm water, and a soft toothbrush.

Chabazite: A Lesser-Known But Legendary Gem!

You may not have heard of chabazite before, but this rare stone is a treasure. With a fascinating etymology rooted in ancient Greek poetry plus various industrial and spiritual benefits, what’s not to love?

Buy chabazite and more unique gemstones today!