two separate crystals sharing some of the same crystal lattice points in a symmetrical manner
Quartz – Japan twin Diagram of twinned crystals of albite. On the more perfect cleavage, which is parallel to the basal plane (P), is a system of fine striations, parallel to the second cleavage (M). Crystal twinning occurs when two or more adjacent crystals of the same mineral are oriented so that they share some of the same crystal lattice points in a symmetrical manner. The result is an intergrowth of two separate crystals that are tightly bonded to each other. The surface along which the lattice points are shared in twinned crystals is called a composition surface or twin plane.
In crystallography twinned crystals are described by a number of twin laws, which are specific to the crystal structure. The type of twinning can be a diagnostic tool in mineral identification. There are three main types of twinning. The first is growth twinning which can occur both in very large and very small particles. The second is transformation twinning, where there is a change in the crystal structure. The third is deformation twinning, in which twinning develops in a crystal in response to a shear stress, and is an important mechanism for permanent shape changes in a crystal.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).