Post subject: Re: The coolest tourmaline crystal...EVER???
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:53 am
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:33 am Posts: 840 Location: Mars PA
Some chemical and physical concepts to help build a beautiful tourmaline crystal.
1, Tourmaline contains three sites that permit the inclusion of varing amounts of elements in trace amounts in its structure.
2, Two of the sites are structually connected and the occupation of one site can effect the size of the other site which helps lead to the coupling of ions to produce color.
3, Elbaite, the overwhelming tourmaline species that produce gemstones, crystallizes in a melt that can have a large variety of elements that are concentrated because they are resistent to being incorporated in the rock being formed by the cooling of the magma.
4, The irradiation of Elbaite can produce the oxidation of trace elements and the production of color centers. Color centers are localized areas in the tourmaline that maintain charge neutrality by rearranging its electronic structure.
5. Heat can also effect the color of tourmaline in ways that can be quite complex and not always done by man.
6, Pure Ellbaite without trace elements or color centers is colorless and ready for nature to color its world.
7. Many elements in various configurations can be chromophores and color tourmaline.
8, The concentrations of trace elements in the melt and the melt's physical/chemical condition can not only effect the ability of tourmaline to incorporate an element in its structure, but the varing rates of incorportaion of trace elements.
I am not saying that the above is all of it, but I think that it has to cover most of it and makes for a rich set of tools to build a beautiful crystal.
Post subject: Re: The coolest tourmaline crystal...EVER???
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:08 pm
Platinum Member
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
As Bruce was saying so eloquently and informatively I will say in much fewer words..... It's pretty much due to tourmalines being garbage cans. They are the refuse heaps of the mineral world. He is a partial list I compiled from different studies and papers of some of 6the elements that have been found in tourmaline. Please feel free to add any I missed because I am sure their are some..
Manganese, Praseodymium, Nickel, Iron, Copper, Lithium, Zinc, Lead, Gallium, Strontium, Tin, Barium, aluminum, silicon, Bismuth, Beryllium, Titanium, Niobium, Uranium, Lanthanum, Thorium, Cesium, Chromium, Vanadium, Tantalum, Cobalt, Rubidium, Zirconium, Molybdenum, silver, Neodymium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Erbium, Holmium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Calcium, Sodium, Magnesium, Fluorine, chlorine, potassium, and a few others I am sure I forgot. Sure does look like natures garbage can doesn't it?
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
Post subject: Re: The coolest tourmaline crystal...EVER???
Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:16 am
Platinum Member
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
and now the coolest quartz crystal...EVER??? What is that...papagoite, hematite, kaolin included. The crystal has been touched up on a lap to help smooth out the faces
Attachments:
278h344-02772120014417161358277.jpg [ 97.31 KiB | Viewed 2221 times ]
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum