This holiday season, why not get a mineral every day instead of chocolate? Today’s mineral is Snowflake Obsidian find out more about it below..

Well that’s it for the Mineral Advent Calendar this year, I hope you enjoyed it! I finish us off today with the only snow we are likely to see in the UK today and that is Snowflake Obsidian.

Not this snowflake, that’s one I made!!! Because I really wish it would snow.

Snowflake Obsidian forms as a variety of Obsidian, which has inclusions of the mineral Cristobalite in the Obsidian. The Cristobalite forms these gorgeous white snowflake shaped growths that give rise to the name. So in a way the final mineral today is two-for-the-price-of-one! BUT Obsidian is not actually a mineral – it is a type of volcanic glass that has crystals of silica so small you can’t see them with the naked eye. We call it crypto-crystalline.

Snowflake Obsidian from Wikipedia.

Obsidian:
Chemical formula: SiO₂
Colour: Black to grey black
System: N/A
Hardness (Mohs): N/A
Can you find it in the UK? No

Christobalite:
Chemical formula: SiO₂
Colour: Colorless, white, also blue grey, brown, grey, yellow
System: Tetragonal
Hardness (Mohs): 6 – 7
Can you find it in the UK? Yes

Whatever you are celebrating this winter season, I wish you joy!!

For more information about Snowflake Obsidian please visit the MinDat website.