The crystal largest in the world never identified, according to what is reported in the scientific literature, it is a crystal of beryl about 18 meters with a mass of across 379,480 kgfound in the mining province of Malakialinain Madagascar. The discovery was reported in an article of 1981 in the magazine American mineralogist But this record is to be considered a bit “smoky“, since there is not only one way to define the size of a crystal. The beryl It is a mineral composed of the homonymous chemical, aluminum and silicon element. Its chemical formula is Be3Al2(Yes6OR18). Generally colorlessBeerillo can also appear in colorful varieties such as green, blue, yellow, pink and orange. Its best known variants are the emerald (Beerillo Verde) and theaquamarine (Beerillo Azzurro). Has a density that varies between 2.63 and 2.92 g/cm³ and a variable hardness between 7.5 and 8 on the Mohs scale.
The discovery and characteristics of Record’s Beerillo
In the 1981the minerologist Peter C. Rickwood he published on the prestigious magazine American mineralogist A catalog of largest minerals in the world known up to that moment. The classification took into consideration seven parameters: chemical composition, length, width, depth, total volume, density and mass. The study revealed that the largest mineral ever identified was a Beerillo crystal found in the region of Malakialina In the Madagascar Central-Meridionalinside pegmatitis. These are igneous rocks, generally of granitic composition, which form in the last phase of cooling the magma inside the earth’s crust and are characterized by coarse size crystalsoften greater than 2.5 cm. The Beerillo of Malakialina is considered the largest crystal in the world because of his length of 18 metershis volume of 143 m³ and his mass of over 379.480 kg. Although these are a unique case, Berillo crystals with a larger dimension to a few meters are not entirely rare.
The problems in determining the record
As anticipated, the assignment of this record brings with it some problems since the criteria used for the classification of “larger crystal“They can be manifold. length or the length? Or, the Total volume or the mass? In addition, it is necessary to establish whether to consider crystals monochristanthat is, consist of a single crystal, or those polycrystallinesformed by an aggregate of crystals of the same mineral species (monomineral) or more minerals (polymerials). The selection criterion and the properties considered are therefore fundamental and can significantly change the result of the ranking.
In fact, in his article Rickwood also discusses a crystal of Ortoclasio, a feldspotic mineral with kais chemical composition3OR8, discovered in the 1930s in the Ural mountainsin Russiawhich may have had a mass and a volume slightly higher than those of the Berillo of Malakialina. However, the data are uncertain. It is then possible that larger crystals have been identified but not yet declared or authenticated. In fact, in Over 40 AnnThe past from Rickwood’s work seems that no significant reviews have been conducted on its classification, nor have more recent data include.
