What Is Lapis Lazuli? About The Metamorphic Rock
LAPIS LAZULI– In this topic, we are going to know and learn about a metammorphic rock which is known as Lapis Lazuli.
It is a deep-blue metamorphc rock which is used as a semi-precious stone that have been valued since ancient history for its intense color. The name Lapis, is the Latin word for stone.
Lazuli, on the other hand, is a genitive form of lazulum, which is derived from the Arabic term lāzaward, which is from the Persian term lājevard, where the stone is mined. Lazulum is akin to the color blue, and the root word for blue in different languages.
It was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai as early as the 7th millenium BCE. It can also be found in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan.
The rock began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, which is the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments.
Lazurite is the most important mineral component of the rock. Most of the rock also contains calcite (white), sodalite (blue), and pyrite (metallic yellow), with some samples contain augite, diopside, enstatite, mica, hauynite, hornblende, nosean, and sulfur-rich löllingite geyerite.
Its intense blue color is due to the presence of the S3−, or trisulfur radical anion in the crystal.
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