Small amounts of galena, which likely had a different origin, have been found in Fisher, Foard, Hardeman, and Young counties. A little occurs also in rocks associated with salt in a number of the Gulf Coastal Plain salt domes. Garnet Garnet is not one mineral but is the name given to a group of several minerals that are very much alike. In fact, it often is impossible to tell some of them apart without using special laboratory tests. [Illustration: Garnet crystal forms include: A, trapezohedron; B, dodecahedron; C and D, combination trapezohedron and dodecahedron.] The garnet minerals have glassy to resinous lusters and are transparent or translucent. A pocket knife will not scratch them, and some specimens are too hard even for quartz to scratch. Two of the garnet minerals most commonly found in Texas are _almandite_, an iron-aluminum silicate, and _grossularite_, a calcium-aluminium silicate. Almandite has a deep-red or a brownish-red color. Grossularite is pale green, brownish yellow, cinnamon brown, or rose red. Garnet minerals occur as crystals and as masses that are scattered through some of the metamorphic and igneous rocks. After they have weathered out of these rocks, the garnets make up a part of many sands and sandstones. Because these minerals so commonly occur as crystals, it is helpful to learn to recognize the crystal shapes. Garnet minerals are found in the igneous and metamorphic rocks of both central Texas and west Texas. In central Texas, they occur in ancient Precambrian schist and pegmatite rocks of the Llano uplift area. Some of these central Texas garnet localities are in northeastern Mason County, central and northwestern Llano County, west-central Burnet County, and northeastern Gillespie County. In west Texas, garnets occur in metamorphic rocks in the Quitman Mountains, which are southwest of Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County, and in the Mica Mine area, which is south of Van Horn near the Hudspeth-Culberson County line. Garnets also have been found in igneous rocks in the Franklin Mountains a few miles north of El Paso in El Paso County. Garnets that are found in metamorphic rocks such as schists were formed when great forces squeezed and heated rocks far below the earth’s surface. This heat and pressure caused elements in the rocks to join together into different combinations to form new minerals, such as garnets. Garnets that occur scattered through igneous rocks, such as some pegmatites and granites, cooled and crystallized from hot, igneous fluids when the rocks themselves formed. Most Texas garnets are not transparent. A few, however, are clear enough to be used as gemstones. These can be cut, polished, and mounted in rings, brooches, bracelets, and earrings. Although some garnet is widely used as an abrasive, none from Texas has been produced for this purpose. Gneiss