CLEAVAGE

CLEAVAGE FORMS PARALLEL TO CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC PLANES

 Basal or pinacoidal cleavage occurs when there is only one cleavage

plane. Graphite has basal cleavage. Mica (like muscovite or biotite) also has basal
cleavage; this is why mica can be peeled into thin sheets.
 Cubic cleavage occurs on when there are three cleavage planes intersecting at
90 degrees. Halite (or salt) has cubic cleavage, and therefore, when halite crystals
are broken, it will form more cubes.
 Octahedral cleavage occurs when there are four cleavage planes in a
crystal. Fluorite exhibits perfect octahedral cleavage. Octahedral cleavage is
common for semiconductors. Diamond also has octahedral cleavage.
 Rhombohedral cleavage occurs when there are three cleavage planes
intersecting at angles that are not 90 degrees. Calcite had rhombohedral cleavage.
 Prismatic cleavage occurs when there are two cleavage planes in a
crystal. Spodumene exhibits prismatic cleavage.
 Dodecahedral cleavage occurs when there are six cleavage planes in a
crystal. Sphalerite has dodecahedral cleavage.

. Cleavage is measured by quality and amount of sides that have cleavage.

 The first number describes the quality of cleavage (on a scale of 1-3 |
1=perfect; 2=good; 3=poor), and the second number describes the number
of directions that exhibit cleavage.
For example, a mineral with a cleavage of 1, 2 has PERFECT cleavage in 2
directions. If the word "Indiscernible" is written in this field, than the
cleavage is so poor it is not recognizable.
 If the word "None" is written in this field, then the mineral has no cleavage.
 If all sides have the same cleavage, than "All sides" is written.
 If a mineral exhibits different cleavage on different sides of the mineral, than
there will be two cleavage indicators separated by a semi-colon (;).
For example, if the cleavage of a mineral is written 1, 2 ; 3,1, then it has
perfect cleavage in two directions, and poor cleavage on the other
direction.

1
This field also describes the type of cleavage the mineral exhibits (if
applicable), such as cubic, octahedral, rhombohedral, prismatic,
and basal. The type of cleavage is separated by a - (dash), so for example a
mineral with perfect basal cleavage would be written as 1,1 - basal