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

  
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 : [Si₆O₁₈]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.
 

  
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