MUSCOVITE – KAl3Si3O10(OH)2

Muscovite is a common phyllosilicate of the Mica Group that occurs in many types of magmatic,
metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Like other micas, it has a number of important industrial uses.

As muscovite also forms in pegmatites, the crystals can be enormous: the record is a crystal
measuring 4.5 meters in diameter and weighing 77 tons. Muscovite has several polytypes and can occur
interstratified with vermiculite, paragonite and montmorillonite. May contain Fe, Mn, Mg, V, Ba, Ca, Na, H2O,
Cr, Li, Cs and Rb.

It has 35 varieties. Among the most important is sericite, which is a muscovite (sometimes
paragonite) that forms very fine grains and often is found in altered feldspars and low-grade metamorphic
rocks. “Fengite” is an intermediate mica between muscovite and celadonite, which has a 2V angle of 0-30º
and is almost impossible to distinguish from muscovite by optical means. The variety “fuchsite” is
macroscopically green (rich in Cr), occurs in metamorphic rocks and constitutes a green ornamental rock
(quartzites with fuchsite).

1. Characteristics:
Crystal System Color Habit Cleavage
Monoclinic White, gray, silvery, Massive, micaceous, {001} perfect,
prismatic. brown, green, pink, tabular, columnar, scaly, as other micas.
Tenacity yellow. granular,
pseudohexagonal or
Flexible and elastic.
diamond-shaped.
Twinning Fracture Mohs Hardness Parting
Plane at {001}, axis Micaceous. 2 – 2.5 // a {001} {110} and {010}.
at [310], 4 perpendicular to {001}.
in 6-pointed stars.
Streak Lustre Diaphaneity Density (g/cm3)
White. Vitreous, silky, pearly. Transparent. 2.76 – 3.

2. Geology and deposits:

Muscovite is an abundant mica, the most common of the white micas. It occurs in many types of
igneous rocks (aluminous granites, granodiorites, aplites, pegmatites and other felsic rocks) and metamorphic
rocks with a pelitic composition and low to medium metamorphic grade (slate, phyllite, shale, gneiss,
cornubianite and quartzite).
Sericite occurs in very low-grade metamorphic rocks. Muscovite also is found in some immature
sedimentary rocks (sandstones, siltstones, etc.) as detrital mineral. May be autogenic in sedimentary rocks.
Never occurs in volcanic rocks!

3. Mineral Associations:
In magmatic and metamorphic rocks, muscovite is associated with quartz, plagioclase, microcline,
biotite, zircon, fluorapatite and many others. In pegmatites, it occurs with quartz, K-feldspars (orthoclase,
microcline), albite, beryl (aquamarine), fluorite, garnet (spessartite), tourmaline and scheelite, among others.
In low-grade metamorphic rocks it is associated with albite; with the advancement of the metamorphic
grade it is associated with biotite, chloritoid and potassic feldspar.
4. TRANSMITTED LIGHT MICROSCOPY
Refraction indices nα: 1.552 – 1.576 nβ: 1.582 – 1.615 nγ: 1.587 – 1.618

PPL Colour / Colorless. It rarely presents shades of pale green, pale yellow or pink, with slight
pleochroism: pleochroism. The variety fuchsite shows a discrete pleochroism between
colorless and bluish-green, better observed in portions of the thin section with a
thickness a little above 30 microns.

Relief: Moderate. It is a well-defined relief, far superior to the relief of quartz and
feldspars. It is easier to notice closing the diaphragm by more than 50%.

Cleavage: (001) perfect, can be partial or just indicated. Controls the orientation of the
fragments: the cleavage is parallel to the elongation of the lamellae.

Habits: Lamellar, reeds, plates, flakes, columnar, tabular. They may be deformed,
curved or bent in a zigzag pattern. May be intergrown with biotite.

CPL Birefringence and Birefringence of 0.037 – 0.041, with 2nd and 3rd order interference colors:
interference colors: strong, intense, colorful colors. Sections parallel to the cleavage show very
low 1st order interference colors.

Extinction: Parallel and mottled in the sections perpendicular to the cleavage; it may
be oblique from 1-3º.
Mottled (“birds-eye”) extinction is a type of extinction that is not complete,
generating a texture with a backlight. This mottled extinction is diagnostic
for biotite, muscovite, talc, pyrophyllite and brucite!

Elongation sign: ES(+) by cleavage, like all micas.

Twins: May show simple twins, but they are very rare.

Zoning: No.

CL Character: B(-), difficult to see due to the 2V angle: 30–47o or 35–50o; the literature indicates
strong interference colors. different angles.

Alterations: muscovite is a mineral that is quite resistant to weathering and is generally unaltered. Very
fine-grained aggregates can alter to hydromuscovite and illite.
There are two special (very rare!) situations of alteration:
(1) Occasionally, muscovite changes to kaolinite, this alteration may generate perfect pseudomorphosis.
(2) Under conditions of more intense metamorphism, muscovite becomes unstable and is replaced by an
aggregate of small grains of potassic feldspar.

May be confused with: Lepidolite, talc, pyrophyllite, margarite and paragonite are very difficult or
impossible to distinguish from muscovite under the petrographic microscope.
Chlorite, when faintly colored, may be similar, but it has lesser birefringence and often shows anomalous
interference colors.
Kaolinite has less birefringence.
Sericite can only be identified by X-Ray Diffractometry.
Any colorless mica can be considered a muscovite; many petrologists use the term “white mica” instead of
naming species. Distinguishing muscovite from other white micas and brittle micas may be impossible.
 Muscovite in PPL: colorless, medium relief and Muscovite in CPL: strong colors contrast with
with very clear cleavage, sometimes perfect. the gray and white of quartz and feldspar
around it.

Muscovites in PPL and CPL. Left, PPL, colorless muscovites, with much higher relief than the quartz
grains that also occur in this schist. Image taken with somewhat closed diaphragm. Right, in CPL,
muscovites exhibit intense interference colors; the muscovite lamella in the vertical position is in
extinction position (parallel and mottled). Quartz is gray to white.

In CPL, at right in the image, muscovite in extinction In CPL, muscovites in a metamorphic rock
position showing “mottled” (“birds-eye”) and parallel with a “mica-fish” texture, with strong red
extinction. At left, in yellow, a non-extinguished colors. Around it, quartz (gray-white) and
biotite (brownish-yellowish).
muscovite with its strong interference colors. On far
left, quartz and feldspars (gray).
Twinned muscovite. The twin plane is the Muscovite in CPL. Unaltered: green. A bit altered to
straight line that divides the crystal into two kaolinite: yellow. Completely altered to kaolinite: gray
portions; each portion is a muscovite crystal. (center of image). Left and right, in shades of gray and
white: quartz.

In CPL, muscovite in a mica-schist,

forming parallel bands of aligned crystals.
In white/gray, quartz. Some biotites and
opaque minerals are also there.
Left: seen with the 2,5x objective.
Above: seen with the 20x objective.

In another mica-schist, the aligned muscovite

crystals are bend, forming a texture that
resembles valleys and ridges.
In white/gray, quartz.
In black, opaque minerals (magnetite?)
Image in CPL.
In PPL, fuchsite (a chromiferous variety of muscovite) showing very faint colorless
to bluish-green pleochroism. In thicker thin section (>30 microns) pleochroism is very
evident.

Plagioclase phenocrystal in
volcanic rock in CPL, altered
to clay minerals (brown
colors) and sericite (small
bright spots). Sericite is a very
common alteration product in
feldspars
5. REFLECTED LIGHT MICROSCOPY:
Reflected light microscopy is not the recommended analytical method for the identification of
muscovite. However, it is important to make a polished thin section or a polished section to identify the opaque
minerals that occur associated with muscovite.

Sample preparation: the polish of muscovite is not of good quality due to the excellent cleavage and due to
the different orientations of the cleavage in relation to the plane of the polished section. Furthermore, the
hardness is low and, in addition, hardness varies greatly in the various possible sections of the mineral. So the
polish will always be heterogeneous, but generally bad.

PPL Reflection colour: Dark grey, slightly lighter than feldspar and quartz, much lighter than
amphibole, pyroxene and biotite.

Pleochroism: No

Reflectivity: Very low (4%?) Bireflectance: No

CPL Isotropy / Anisotropy: No anisotropy is visible.

Internal reflections: Generalized from light gray to colorless.

May be confused with: other micas, who are very similar. Furthermore, it can be confused with other
minerals with the same physical characteristics: transparent, of low hardness and with good to very good
cleavage, with a tabular or lamellar habit.

Cleavage is often quite visible.

Polishing pits, despite the cleavage, do not occur or are not conspicuous.

Polishing scratches, due to the low hardness, are almost unavoidable.

Muscovite bundles along the edge of an orthoclase (bottom) and with associated epidote (top), in PPL (left)
and in CPL (right). In PPL, the lamellar form of muscovite and the good cleavage became very evident. In
CPL, these muscovites have green internal reflections because of the associated (green) epidotes, but the
correct internal reflections of muscovites are colorless.

Edition of April 2022