Chabazite

Description

Chabazite has a hardness of 4-5 and a specific gravity of 2.05-2.22. It was “named in 1788 by Louis-Augustin Bosc d’Antic from the Greek chabazios, tune or melody, one of twenty stones named in the poem Peri lithos, which extolled the virtues of minerals. The poem is ascribed to Orpheus, legendary founder of the Orphic cult, which flourished in Greece in the early centuries.” according to Mindat.

According to Wikipedia, Chabazite “occurs most commonly in voids and amygdules in basaltic rocks.”

It’s found on every continent in maybe a couple thousand known localities, and doesn’t seem to be used as an Aluminum ore, or as a source for Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium and/or Strontium, but it makes for a pretty gemstone and a cool sample of those elements as they’re found naturally!