Tiger's eye

Tiger's eye
A polished reddish brown stone which is bisected by a band containing golden fibers
General
CategoryMineral
Formula
(repeating unit)
Silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2)
Identification
Colourgolden to red-brown
Mohs scale hardness6.5-7
LusterSilky
Specific gravity2.64–2.71

Tiger's eye (also called tiger eye) is a chatoyant gemstone that is usually a metamorphic rock with a golden to red-brown colour and a silky lustre. As members of the quartz group, tiger's eye and the related blue-coloured mineral hawk's eye gain their silky, lustrous appearance from the parallel intergrowth of quartz crystals and altered amphibole fibres that have mostly turned into limonite.[1][2]

  1. ^ "Tiger's Eye". mindat.org. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  2. ^ Heaney, Peter; Fisher, Donald (April 2003). "New interpretation of the origin of tiger's-eye". Geology. 31 (4): 323–326. Bibcode:2003Geo....31..323H. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0323:NIOTOO>2.0.CO;2.