Red Aragonite
Other Silicates & Gemstones
Red aragonite is a red-colored occurrence of aragonite, one of the natural crystal forms of calcium carbonate, rather than a separate mineral species. Iron-rich impurities can color its brittle radiating, columnar, or branching aggregates red to rust-orange.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Aragonite
- Scientific or material identity
- Aragonite
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Composition or formula
- CaCO₃
- Crystal system or structure
- Orthorhombic
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Can form in more than one geological environment, or combines several materials.
- Mohs hardness
- 3.5 to 4
Origins
Canada · Czech Republic · Namibia · Peru · Spain · USA
Appearance & optical properties
rust-red aragonite with radiating fibrous growth.
History & discovery
Spanish naturalist José Torrubia described the mineral in 1754. Abraham Gottlob Werner named it in 1797 after Molina de Aragón in Spain, although his wording placed the locality in the neighboring region of Aragón.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Colorful aragonite clusters are collected as mineral specimens. Compact material is also polished into cabochons, beads, carvings, spheres, and ornamental objects, but its softness limits wear.
- Handling and cleaning
- Dust gently or wipe with a barely damp soft cloth. Aragonite is soft, brittle, heat-sensitive, and attacked by acids, so avoid soaking, household chemicals, impacts, steam, ultrasonic cleaning, and sudden temperature changes.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Red Aragonite jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Coral Ember Ring
Ring
A gold ring holding a cabochon of red aragonite, its concentric bands glowing like a banked fire. The mineral shares its chemistry with coral and pearl.
Desert Flame Pendant
Pendant
A flame-shaped slice of red aragonite hung from a twisted gold cord, its surface mottled in rust and amber. The soft stone is worn as a display piece rather than daily.
Aragonite Halo Brooch
Brooch
A round brooch in which a disc of red aragonite sits within a ring of small garnets, the warm stone brightened by the deeper red around it.
Moroccan Rust Necklace
Necklace
An imagined bead necklace of red aragonite, its rusty orange stone banded and fibrous like dried desert clay.
Sahara Rust Tiara
Tiara
An imagined gold tiara of rising sun rays set with red aragonite, the rusty orange stone of the Moroccan desert.