Aragonite

Aragonite often occurs as thin, elongated crystals, sometimes joined together in the form of hexagonal prisms, globular aggregates, stalactitic, fibrous and coralloid. It can be colourless, white, grey, yellow, green, blue, violet, red, but the streak is white. Soluble when cold in acids, even dilute ones, with effervescence. It is fluorescent under ultraviolet rays.

It originates mostly in the oxidation zones of sulphide deposits, in hydrothermal veins, but also within metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.

It is used above all for scientific purposes and by collectors, but in its alabaster-like varieties it is used as an ornamental stone.