5" Large, Red Spessartine Garnets on Albite - Skardu, Pakistan

Garnets are nesosilicates with the general formula X3Y2(SiO4)3. Garnets come in many species, including pyrope, almandine (the most common species), spessartine, uvarovite, andradite and grossular, varieties of which are hessonite, cinnamon-stone, and tsavorite. Garnets are found in a wide variety of colors including red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, blue, black, pink, and colorless, though reddish shades are the most common.

Albite is a plagioclase feldspar mineral with the chemical composition Na(AlSi3O8) in its pure form. It is a major component of granite and granitic pegmatites, and often forms in association with quartz, orthoclase, muscovite, hornblende and biotite. In most cases the crystals are white to colorless, although it can display red, green and blue hues depending on impurities present during formation. Albite earned its name from the Latin word "albus", meaning white, its most common color.