Thulite (sometimes called rosaline) is a translucent, crystalline or massive pink

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

-bearing variety of the

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

zoisite. Manganese substitutes for calcium in the structure with up to two percent Mn²⁺. Thulite is often mottled with white

calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

and occurs as veins and fracture fillings transecting many types of rock. In mineralogical literature, thulite may sometimes refer to any pink zoisite. ''Clinothulite'' is the manganese bearing variety of monoclinic clinozoisite. Thulite was first discovered at a place called Sauland in

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in 1820.Mindat with location data
/ref> It is named after the mythical island of Thule in the belief that the island is Scandinavia. Thulite is used as a gemstone and carving material in the manufacture of jewelry and ornamental objects. Thulite is also found in the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

and in Mitchell County, North Carolina. A new, more recent find of a small quantity of thulite was discovered near Riverside in Okanogan County, Washington, US and in Snillfjord Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway during tunnel constructions in December 2018. Thulite is also found in New Zealand in the Otago region of the South Island. Thulite is also found in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. The occurrence is spread throughout the

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba Ri ...

and generally has ridges with a NE to SW setting. The color can be highly variable with most deposits being greenish in nature, but on occasion the desirable pink color is to be found.

References

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Gemstones Sorosilicates Manganese(II) minerals Minerals in space group 62 {{silicate-mineral-stub