P earls are biogenic gem materials that may form naturally without human intervention, or with assistance from humans in a culturing process. Natural and cultured pearls often display similar external appearances and occasionally cannot be differentiated without examining their internal structures. Over the last century, scientists and gemological laboratories have used film X-radiography and digital real-time microradiography (RTX) to reveal these interior growth patterns (

Explores the fascinating history of natural pearling in Australian waters and examines the properties that might help distinguish these natural pearls from those that are accidentally produced during the culturing process.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract