Jadeitite
Jadeitite is a tough, translucent green rock made of more than 90 percent jadeite, a sodium-aluminum pyroxene. It is one of the two rocks known as jade, along with the amphibole rock nephrite, and it forms from fluids deep in subduction zones.
Jadeitite is a tough, translucent green rock made of more than 90 percent jadeite, a sodium-aluminum pyroxene. It is one of the two rocks known as jade, along with the amphibole rock nephrite, and it forms from fluids deep in subduction zones.
🪨 Geology Guide Specimen: Open Jadeitite in the CRV Science Rock & Mineral ID Guide to log the specimen, compare it with the other 6 subgroups of Metamorphic, and test your eye in LithoClade.
Fluid Channels: How Does Jadeitite Form?
Jadeitite crystallizes from sodium- and aluminum-rich fluids released by sinking slabs, in cracks and channels within serpentinite above the slab. It forms at high pressure and relatively low temperature, in the same settings as blueschist.
Toughness: Why Is Jade So Durable?
Jadeite's interlocking, fibrous crystals give the rock a hardness of 6.5 to 7 and exceptional toughness, so it resists breaking better than most gemstones. Color varies from emerald green, from chromium, through apple green to lavender and white.
Human Use: Where Has Jade Been Valued?
Mesoamerican peoples, including the Olmec and Maya, carved jadeite from sources along the Motagua fault in Guatemala, and Chinese cultures prized jade for thousands of years. Both the jadeite and nephrite varieties were used for tools, ornaments and ritual objects.
Jadeitite at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type / variety | High-Pressure Sodic-Clinopyroxene Jadeitite |
| Composition | >90% Interlocking Jadeite Clinopyroxene (NaAlSi₂O₆) |
| Geology Guide group | Metamorphic Rocks (Foliated, Granoblastic & High-P) |
| Rock Classification | High-Pressure Subduction |
| Mohs hardness | Mohs 6.5–7 (exceptionally high fracture toughness) |
| Texture / habit | Dense, tough, micro-to-medium interlocking fibrous-granular pyroxene |
| Density | 3.25–3.40 g/cm³ |
| Lustre and cleavage | Translucent emerald-green, apple-green, or lavender greasy-vitreous lustre |
| Geological setting | High-pressure serpentinite mélange channels above subducting oceanic slabs |
| Diagnostic feature (Geology Guide) | Translucent apple- to emerald-green, exceptionally tough rock (density 3.3 g/cm³) composed of >90% interlocking sodium-aluminum clinopyroxene crystallized from deep slab fluids. |
| Main mineral | Jadeite, NaAlSi₂O₆ |
| Related jade | Nephrite, an amphibole rock |