Epidote from Thassos

Sand sample from the Thassos Island in Greece is so rich in interesting minerals that it would be a shame to put it back to the drawer so soon. I used it before to illustrate the article of Kyanite. I mentioned there that this sand contains epidote among many other interesting minerals. Here are some of the epidote grains picked from the sand:

Epidote grains handpicked from a sand sample collected in the Island of Thassos, Greece. The width of the view is 7 mm.

Epidote is a very common mineral in sand. Green mineral found in sand is often epidote. However, epidote is definitely not the only one among green minerals. It could also be olivine, pyroxene, glauconite, chlorite, or pumpellyite among others that may be confused with epidote.

I will leave longer overview about this interesting mineral for another day. I have noticed that many sand samples from Greece seem to be especially rich in epidote. The grains on the picture are very small and the photo is not particularly rich in details but what I like about the picture is the color of the grains. This very well represents the dirty or pistachio green color that is so characteristic to epidote. Glauconite and chlorite are darker and fresh olivine tends to be “cleaner” green which makes identification easier.

Epidote has one good cleavage that runs parallel to the longer edges and controls the shape of the grains by making them elongated and the edges of the grains often relatively straight even in worn-out sand grains.

The other important minerals besides epidote are kyanite, quartz, feldspar, and staurolite. Metalia Beach, Thassos Island, Greece. The width of the view is 9 mm.