A Labradorite Meme, and Post #900

I feel like I should say something significant about this being my 900th post, but nah...

In the olden days of 2008, the geoblogosphere was alive with brief memes of various topics. There have been fewer of late, but I always enjoyed them as a new blogger, since it was a quick source of ideas for a blog post, and I got to know who else was out there. Sandatlas posted an article on labradorite and anorthosite, and Ron Schott thinks this could be a nice meme. And I say, why not?

I keep a few samples of labradorite in the lab just to show how beautiful some minerals can be when seen in the right light (literally). From certain angles, labradorite, a variety of the common mineral plagioclase, is kind of a plain gray color. But turn it a bit, and ...

...beautiful brilliant shades of blue, orange and yellow! The property is called, well, labradorescence, and is caused by light refracting off twinning planes in the crystal. The play of colors explains the popularity of labradorite-rich gabbro in countertops (where it is erroneously called 'black granite').

 Oh, I have another favorite 'labradorite' that hangs around the house...she's a real angel!