The presence of aluminous minerals like anorthite,
scapolite or spinel is generally a reliable indicator of marble.
The wide-range of gemstones including sapphires from Kashmir, emeralds from Swat, rubies from the northern areas and pink topazes from Katlang, Mardan, and good quality zircon, different varieties of quartz, aquamarine, tourmaline, sphene, spinel, zoisite apatite, epidote, morganite, garnet,
scapolite, clino zoisite, xenotime, bastnaesite, peridot, nephrite, serpentine, red agate, diopside, pargasite, amethyst, scheelite, pollucite, chrome diopside and kunzite are found in mountainous belt from South Waziristan to Chitral, makes the country significant in the mineral world.
The wide-range of gemstones including sapphires from Kashmir, emeralds from Swat, rubies from the northern areas and pink topazes from Katlang, Mardan, and good quality zircon, different varieties of quartz, aquamarine, tourmaline, sphene, spinel, zoisite apatite, epidote, morganite, garnet,
scapolite, clino zoisite, xenotime, bastnaesite, peridot, nephrite, serpentine, agate, diopside, pargasite, amethyst, scheelite, pollucite, chrome diopside and kunzite are found in mountainous belt from South Waziristan to Chitral, makes the country significant in the mineral world.
Radl indicated that he encountered significant amounts of tremolite of the same pale green colour (associated with quartz and purple
scapolite) during his first trip to Tanzania in 1995.
Here, the rarely represented whitish
scapolite containing marialite component, locally also dravite, may be indicative of evaporite components in metasedimentary protolith and/or hydrothermal activity (Kadounova, 1987; Kfibek, 1988; Kfibek et al., 1997; Kfiz, 2009).
The first stage of alteration includes Na-Ca metasomatism (actinolite + titanite + epidote + calcite + albite [+ or -]
scapolite [+ or -] quartz), which is characteristic of diorite-monzodiorite plutonic rocks (Figure 6(a)).
We were also shown (by Werner Radl) some deep pink, etched corundum crystals with muscovite and
scapolite, from a new find at Mawingu, Tanzania.
The intrusive calc-silicate rocks contain mineral assemblages ranging from titanite +
scapolite + diopside + K-feldspar + calcite [+ or -] quartz to calcite +
scapolite + forsterite + titanite + spinel [+ or -] Ca-rich amphibole.
Last year, scientists reported spectral evidence of a mineral called
scapolite, which might have formed on Mars from the heat-processing of carbonate rock by volcanic activity (SN: 11/12/88, p.319).