SOAPSTONE
This is the oddest decorative stone lithology. Soapstone is a
talcose, generally crystalline-textured, metamorphic rock. Most soapstones form by metamorphic
alteration of serpentinites. Being
composed of talc, this rock has a hardness of 1 on the Mohs Hardness Scale, and
is easily scratched. So I wonder
what good is it as a decorative stone? (I honestly donŐt know.)
Soapstone, undetermined age, undetermined provenance. This sample is a pyritic soapstone - the brassy-brown patches are pyrite crystals. Note the thin, curving, white lines - those are scratches.