80 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 27. 
Comparison with Russian Deposits. 
A very close resemblance between the mode of occurrence of the 
chrysotile-asbestos in Quebec and in the Urals is indicated by the pub- 
lished descriptions of the latter deposits, and the following notes concern- 
ing them are of interest as affording a comparison of the two. 1 
The Russian deposits are situated about 80 miles northwest of 
Ekaterinburg, where serpentine and allied rocks form a belt 2 to 3 miles 
wide, extending for 30 miles with a very regular north and south trend. 
The rocks of the belt lie wholly within granite and they consist of chlor- 
itic and talc schists (in places carrying emeralds and other gems), 
diabase, porphyrite, and serpentine. The serpentine forms a series 
of elliptical masses with their longer axes running north and south, 
parallel to the trend of the belt, and one of the largest of these masses 
is a mile long by about 1,000 feet wide. Some narrow portions of the 
belt consist only of diabase and porphyrite, and veins (dykes ?) of the 
latter traverse the serpentine in places. As in Quebec, the asbestos 
is mainly in veins of cross fibre, and these attain a width of as much as 
8 inches; but there is also some fibre, up to a yard in length, running 
parallel to the fissure walls. The associated minerals are stated to 
include magnetite, well crystallized, in veins and small aggregates; 
garnet, including grossularite, ouvarovite, and andradite; vesuvianite, 
sometimes emerald-green and chromiferous ; chlorite; crystalline quartz, 
chalcedony, and rarely milky opal; and occasionaly aragonite and a 
calcium-iron-magnesium carbonate. 
The writers have not been able to obtain any information regarding 
the actual mode of occurrence of these minerals in the Russian deposits, 
but it will be observed that the mineral association is, in the main, the 
same as that of the Black Lake area; the most notable differences are 
the absence of diopside from the Urals and the occurrence there of 
quartz, chalcedony, and opal. It may be added, however, that the 
matrix of the colerainite on the specimens from the Union pit so closely 
resembles chalcedony or common opal that the specimens collected were 
at first wrongly labelled as such. 
As an additional point of resemblance between the Quebec and 
Russian asbestos deposits, it is interesting to note that, in the description 
of the latter, as given in the abstract referred to, no mention is made of 
the occurrence of limestone in association with the rocks of the serpentine 
belt. 
Kryshanofaky , W. F. f Serpentine absestos deposits in the Berezowa, Kamenskaja, anrf Maaetoaja 
estates, Ural. Russia, 1904; translated abstract by A. Anrep In the Trans. Can. Min. Inst., vol. XV, 1912, 
pp. 270-272. 
