# Gabronite > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gabronite > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gabronite.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabronite > Source revision: 944885593 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Gabronite** or **Gabbronite** is a former name for a mineral found in Norway, no longer widely used. It describes a form of [scapolite](/source/Scapolite) or [nepheline](/source/Nepheline). ## Current views [Mindat.org](/source/Mindat.org) defines the term "Gabbronite" as: - Old discredited name, has been referred to as both Scapolite and Nepheline. [Clark, 1993, 249 - "Hey's Mineral Index - 3rd Edition"][1] [Wiktionary](/source/Wiktionary) defines "[Gabbronite](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gabbronite)" as "A compact variety of scapolite, resembling [gabbro](/source/Gabbro)." The term is sometimes used in modern geological descriptions. Thus a description of the [Matamec Ecological Reserve](/source/Matamec_Ecological_Reserve) in Quebec, Canada says, "Elsewhere, igneous rock is composed of anorthosite, **gabronite** and granite."[2] A web search is likely to show a polished mostly-black stone used in jewelry. ## Descriptions [William Phillips](/source/William_Phillips_(geologist)) (1773–1828) lists the mineral under SILEX, and describes it as follows:[3] GABRONITE. The Gabronite occurs massive, and is of a bluish or greenish grey colour; its fracture is [lamellar](/source/Lamellar_structure), it is translucent on the edges, and hard enough to scratch glass, though not to give fire with the steel. Its specific gravity is nearly 3; and it is composed of 54 per cent of [silex](/source/Silex), 24 of [alumine](/source/Aluminium), 1.5 of [magnesia](/source/Magnesium), 17.25 of [potash](/source/Potash) and [soda](/source/Sodium), 1.25 of the oxides of [iron](/source/Iron) and [manganese](/source/Manganese), and 2 of water. The Gabronite has only been found in Norway. The bluish variety, near [Arendahl](/source/Arendal), with [hornblend](/source/Hornblende); the greenish, at Fredericksvarn [[Stavern](/source/Stavern)], disseminated in a large grained sienite.[3] According to [Parker Cleaveland](/source/Parker_Cleaveland) (1780–1858) the mineral is probably a variety of Fettstein. Cleaveland defines it as follows:[4] GABRONITE. *HAUT. BRONGNIART.* It occurs in masses, whose structure is more of less distinctly foliated, or sometimes compact. Its lustre is glistening, and somewhat resinous; and its fracture is uneven or splintery. It scratches glass, but scarcely gives sparks with steel. It is more or less translucent at the edges; and its colors are gray, bluish or greenish gray, and sometimes red. Before the blowpipe it melts with some difficulty into an opaque white globule. It contains, according to John, [silex](/source/Silex) 54.0, [alumine](/source/Aluminium) 24.0, [potash](/source/Potash) and [soda](/source/Sodium) 17.25, [magnesia](/source/Magnesium) 1.5, oxides of [iron](/source/Iron) and [manganese](/source/Manganese) 1.25, water 2.0. This mineral is by some referred to the Scapolite; but, if the preceding analysis is correct, the union is inadmissible. The Gabronite is found in Norway near [Arendal](/source/Arendal); also at Friedrichswärn, where it occurs in [sienite](/source/Syenite).[4] *[Webster's 1828 English Dictionary](/source/Webster's_Dictionary)* gives: - GA'BRONITE, n. A mineral, supposed to be a variety of fettstein. It occurs in masses, whose structure is more or less foliated, or sometimes compact. Its colors are gray, bluish or greenish gray, and sometimes red.[5] [Armand Dufrénoy](/source/Ours-Pierre-Armand_Petit-Dufr%C3%A9noy) (1792–1857) describes the mineral as:[6] - Gabronite. – This mineral, found only in Arendal in Norway, is found in an amorphous mass, with a compact or hard [lamellar](/source/Lamellar_structure) texture... The [École des Mines](/source/%C3%89cole_des_Mines) possesses a sample in which I have been able to recognize not only that the angles are straight, but that there is a diagonal cleavage at an angle of about 135°; from which it follows that the prism is square, as in wernérite [common [scapolite](/source/Scapolite)]: the shine of gabronite is fat and oily. Its color is dirty gray, greenish gray; it barely scratches glass: its specific gravity is 2.74. The composition of gabronite, which I will give in a few lines, departs from that of wernérite by the great quantity of soda it contains. This circumstance induced M. Beudant to associate it with [nepheline](/source/Nepheline); but the six-sided prism form of this latter species is opposed to this association.[6] ## See also - [Gabbronorite](/source/Gabbronorite) ## Notes 1. Gabbronite, mindat.org. 1. Carpentier 2011. 1. Phillips 2012, p. 83. 1. Cleaveland 1822, p. 317. 1. Gabronite, Webster. 1. Dufrénoy 1856, p. 651. ## Sources - Carpentier, Réal (2011), ["Réserve écologique de la Matamec Conservation Plan"](http://www.environnement.gouv.qc.ca/biodiversite/reserves/matamec/plan-conservation-en.pdf), Government of Québec, ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs, retrieved 2019-10-09 - Cleaveland, Parker (1822), ["An Elementary Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology"](https://books.google.com/books?id=8gRQAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA317), Cummings and Hilliard, retrieved 10 October 2019 - Dufrénoy, Armand (1856), ["Traité de Minéralogie"](https://books.google.com/books?id=Mg8-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA651), Viet. Dalmont, retrieved 10 October 2019 - ["Gabbronite"](https://www.mindat.org/min-1625.html), *mindat.org*, retrieved 2019-10-10 - ["Gabronite"](http://sorabji.com/1828/words/g/gabronite.html), Webster, retrieved 2019-10-10 - Phillips, William (12 July 2012), [*An Elementary Introduction to the Knowledge of Mineralogy: Including Some Account of Mineral Elements and Constituents*](https://books.google.com/books?id=R_wyW36c3ZAC&pg=PA83), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-108-04938-2, retrieved 10 October 2019 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gabronite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabronite) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabronite?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.