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Aquamarine (a variety of Beryl)
Current inventory:  0 gems
 

Aquamarine

  
Aquamarine is named from Latin meaning sea water for its color. The name Beryl is possibly named from the Greek word beryllos which referred to a number of blue-green stones in antiquity but was later used for the entire Beryl Group of minerals.

Discovery: Prehistoric;   IMA status: Not Valid  (a variety of Beryl)

 

Chemistry

 

 

Chemical Formula:

Be3Al2Si6O18 + Fe

 

Beryllium Aluminum Silicate + Iron

Molecular Weight:

537.50 gm

Composition:

Beryllium

5.03 %

Be

13.96 %

BeO

 

Aluminum

10.04 %

Al

18.97 %

Al2O3

 

Silicon

31.35 %

Si

67.07 %

SiO2

 

Oxygen

53.58 %

O

 

 

 

 

100.00 %

 

100.00 %

= TOTAL OXIDE

 

 

Classification

   

   

Mineral Classification:

Silicates (Germanates)

Strunz 8th Ed. ID:

8/E.12-10

Nickel-Strunz 10th Ed. ID:

9.CJ.05

 

9 : SILICATES (Germanates)
C : Cyclosilicates
J : [Si
6O18]12- 6-membered single rings (sechser-Einfachringe), without insular complex anions

Related to:

Beryl Group. Beryl Series.

Members of Group:

Beryl Group: Bazzite, Beryl, Pezzottaite, Stoppaniite

Varieties:

Aeroides, Alkali-beryl, Améthiste Basaltine (of Egleston), Aquamarine, Emerald, Goshenite, Heliodor, Maxixe-Aquamarine, Morganite, Pachea, Red Beryl (Bixbite), Riesling Beryl, Vorobyevite  

Synonyms:

Berylite, Berylle, Berylls

 

 

Crystal Data

   

   

Crystallography:

Hexagonal - Dihexagonal Dipyramidal

Crystal Habit:

Crystals prismatic to tabular, with {1010}, {0001}, and {1120}; may be complexly terminated by pyramids, to 18 m and 180 t. Also radial, trapiche, columnar; granular to compact.

Twinning:

Rarely

 

 

Physical Properties

   

 

Cleavage:

Imperfect on {0001}

Fracture:

Conchoidal

Tenacity:

Brittle

Moh's Hardness:

7.5 - 8.0

Density:

2.66 - 2.80 (g/cm3)

Luminescence:

None

Radioactivity:

Not Radioactive

 

 

Optical Properties

   

   

Color:

Various shades of pale Blue to Blue-Green; Colorless in thin section

Transparency:

Transparent to Translucent

Luster:

Vitreous, Resinous

Refractive Index:

1.567 - 1.590  Uniaxial ( - )

Birefringence:

0.005 - 0.007

Dispersion:

0.014 (low)

Pleochroism:

Weak to distinct; O = colorless, yellowish green, light blue, yellowish red; E = sea-green, blue

 

 

Occurances

   

   

Geological Setting:

In granites and granite pegmatites, rarely in nepheline syenites. Also in mafic metamorphic rocks, low- to high-temperature hydrothermal veins.

Common Associations:

Quartz, Feldspar, Muscovite, Lepidolite, Spodumene, Amblygonite, Tourmaline, Topaz, Cassiterite, Columbite, Tantalite.

Common Impurities:

Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, Cr, Na, Li, Cs, O, H, OH, H2O, K, Rb

Type Locality:

Unknown (prehistoric)

Year Discovered:

Prehistoric

View mineral photos:

Aquamarine Mineral Photos and Locations

 

 

More Information

   

   

 

Mindat.org (Aquamarine)
Mindat.org (Beryl)
Webmineral.com (Beryl)

 

 


Aquamarine is the blue to blue-green variety of the Beryl Group of minerals that also includes Bixbite (red), Emerald (green), Goshenite (colorless), Heliodor (yellow), Morganite (pink) and Pezzottaite (reddish pink). Very large Aquamarine crystals have been found including the famous Martha Rocha crystal, found in Brazil, that weighed 134 pounds and yeilded 300,000 carats of excellent blue gems! Aquamarine gets its blue-green color from traces of ferrous iron added to the basic Beryl formula. Aquamarine is the birthstone for March.

Aquamarine is known from many sources worldwide including Afghanistan; Australia; Minas Gerais and other locations in Brazil; more than fifty specific locations in Madagascar; Myanmar (Burma); Namibia; Pakistan; Russia; Sri Lanka; and in the USA at San Diego County, California; Mt. Antero, Colorado; Connecticut; Maine; and North Carolina.
 

  
Aquamarine gems for sale:

We have not photographed our Aquamarine gems yet.  Please check back soon!
 

 


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