Gemstone deposits of Serbia

Abstract

Gemstone minerals in Serbia have never been regarded as an interesting and significant resource. Nevertheless, more than 150 deposits and occurrences have been recorded and some of them preliminarily explored in the last 50 years. The majority of deposits and occurrences are located within the Serbo-Macedonian metallogenic province and the most significant metallogenic units at the existing level of knowledge are the Fruska Gora ore district, Cer ore district, Sumadija metallogenic zone, Kopaonik metallogenic zone and Lece-Halkidiki metallogenic zone. The most important genetic type of deposits is hydrothermal, particularly in case of serpentinite/peridotite as host/parent rock. Placer deposits are also economically important. The dominant gemstones are silica minerals: chalcedony (Chrysoprase, carnelian, bluish chalcedony etc.), jasper (picture, landscape, red etc.), common opal (dendritic, green, milky white etc.), silica masses (undivided), and quartz (rock crystal, amethyst etc.). Beside silica minerals significant gemstones in Serbia include also beryl (aquamarine), garnet (almandine and pyrope), tourmaline, fluorite, rhodochrosite, carbonate-silica breccia, carbonate-silica onyx, silicified wood, howlite, serpentinite, marble onyx, and kyanite. This paper aims to present an overview of Serbian gemstone deposits and occurrences and their position based on a simplified gemstone metallogenic map of Serbia, as well as genetic-industrial classification of gemstone deposits and gemstone varieties.

Active Degassing of Deeply Sourced Fluids in Central Europe: New Evidences From a Geochemical Study in Serbia

“…The engine of the regional geodynamic evolution is the interaction between Eurasian (Europe) and Gondwana (Africa) continental plates (Cvetković et al., 2016). More in detail, Serbia is part of the orogenic system composed by the Alpine, Carpathian, and Dinaride belts (e.g., Marović et al., 2007; Schmidt et al., 2008, 2019) and its territory can be divided into distinct tectonic units: (a) the Pannonian basin (northern part), (b) the Dinaric Alps (central‐western part), (c) the Vardar zone, divided in East and West zones (the study area, Figure 1), (d) the Serbian‐Macedonian Massif, a belt stretching in north‐south direction into north‐western Macedonia and northern Greece, (e) the Carpatho‐Balkan Region (eastern part), and (f) the Dacia basin (Bazylev et al., 2009; Cvetković et al., 2004; Jelenković et al., 2008; Moores & Fairbridge, 1997).…”

Zimbabwe's coloured gemstone endowments - A regional geological overview

“…Figure 2 shows the distribution of the gemstone occurrences within the various geological and/or metallogenic units that make up Zimbabwe's landmass. Metallogenic approaches have only been sparingly applied to gemstone distributions elsewhere (e.g., Chen and Xing, 2011;Miladinović et al, 2016;Li et al, 2021), and to the best of our knowledge, have not been applied to the distribution of Zimbabwean gemstones. All gemstone occurrence data (N = 173) reported herein was collated from Bartholomew (1990) and Hawadi and Mafara (2018), complemented by Cipriani and Borelli (1986) and the Gemmology Institute of America (1999) to develop the gemstones classification scheme proposed in Table I.…”

A Unique Petrified Tree Fern from Northeast China

“…However, the large particle size and rough edges of crystalline quartz in petrified wood cause light to be reflected and refracted internally, resulting in limited transparency (Lei, 2010). Conversely, fibrous chalcedony, the primary mineral commonly found in petrified tree fern, contributes to a delicate structure and enhances transparency (Miladinović et al, 2016;Lei, 2022). Therefore, the plant pattern filled with crystalline quartz can be more clearly distinguished from the surrounding chalcedony portions.…”