Red Beryl from Utah: A Review and Update

Shigley, James E.; Thompson, Tom; Keith, Jeffrey D.

doi:10.5741/gems.39.4.302

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The chemical compositions of pezzottaite, morganite, and red beryl are distinct. Besides being virtually anhydrous, red beryl contains much higher amounts of Fe, Ti, Mn, and other trace elements (Shigley et al, 2003; see also table 2 in the G&G Data Depository). Morganite shows ranges of Fe, Ti, and Mn similar to those of pezzottaite, although the latter may contain significantly more Mn (typically <0.05 wt.% in morganite, vs. an average for this study of 0.11 wt.% MnO in pezzottaite).…”

Section: Additional Comparisons To Morganite and Utahmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pezzottaite from Ambatovita, Madagascar: A New Gem Mineral

Laurs¹,

Simmons²,

Rossman³

et al. 2003

Gems & Gemology

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eginning with the 2003 Tucson gem shows, cesium-rich "beryl" from Ambatovita, Madagascar, created excitement among gem collectors and connoisseurs due to its deep purplish pink color (figure 1) and the attractive chatoyancy displayed by some of the material. Although it was sold during and after the Tucson gem shows as "raspberyl," "red beryl," "pink beryl," "hot pinkred beryl," and especially "raspberry beryl," subsequent examinations (see, e.g., Simmons et al., 2003) revealed properties that were anomalous for beryl and were associated with very high concentrations of cesium (Cs). In September 2003, the International Mineralogical Association approved the name pezzottaite (pe-zó-ta-ite) for this new species of the beryl group. It is named after Dr. Federico Pezzotta (Natural History Museum, Milan, Italy), who was among the first to investigate this new mineral, in recognition of his scientific contributions to the mineralogy of Madagascar (Hawthorne et al., 2003). With the addition of pezzottaite-ideally Cs(Be 2 Li)Al 2 Si 6 O 18-the beryl group consists of four members. The other three (all hexagonal) are: beryl (Be 3 Al 2 Si 6 O 18 ; Aurisicchio et al., 1988), bazzite (Be 3 Sc 2 Si 6 O 18 ; Armbruster et al., 1995), and stoppaniite (Be 3 Fe 2 Si 6 O 18 ; Ferraris et al., 1998; Della Ventura et al., 2000). Pezzottaite, which is rhombohedral, is not a Cs-rich beryl but rather a new mineral species that is closely related to beryl. Another mineral, indialite ([Al 2 Si]Mg 2 [Al 2 Si 4 ]O 18 ; Meagher and Gibbs, 1977), is also sometimes included in the beryl group. Of these, only beryl and pezzottaite have been found in gem quality. (Note: In this article, "beryl" refers to the mineral species, rather than the group, unless otherwise specified.) Pezzottaite has been confirmed from just one deposit in Madagascar, the Sakavalana granitic pegmatite located near Ambatovita in a remote area of the central highlands. In addition to material from this locality, a sample of Cs-rich "morganite" from Afghanistan described by Hänni and Krzemnicki (2003) has now been recognized as pezzottaite (H. Hänni, pers. comm., 2003). Observations of the crystal morphology of pezzottaite from Madagascar 284

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Section: Additional Comparisons To Morganite and Utahmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pezzottaite from Ambatovita, Madagascar: A New Gem Mineral

Laurs¹,

Simmons²,

Rossman³

et al. 2003

Gems & Gemology

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“…Among the varieties of beryl used as gemstones, the rarest is the red variety [21]. In addition to its attractive and rare color, red beryl is also unique among beryls in its geological occurrence, being the only variety found in a volcanic rhyolite as host rock [21][22][23]. Moreover, there is only one known commercial occurrence of gem-quality red beryl worldwide, that is the Violet Mine, Wah Wah Mountains of south-western Utah, USA [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite a series of papers devoted to natural and synthetic gem-quality red beryls, e.g., [11,21,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], a multi-methodological and comparative investigation of natural and synthetic samples based on gemmological analysis, chemical characterization from major to trace-elements, vibrational spectroscopies, and structure refinements based on X-ray diffraction techniques is still missing. In this study, we report the experimental findings of a case-study based on a multi-methodological investigation of one natural and three doped synthetic gem-quality red beryls by means of: gemmological standard testing, laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS), infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-vis-NIR) absorption spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) in order to unveil the main differences between natural and synthetic stones using different probes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Methodological Investigation of Natural and Synthetic Red Beryl Gemstones

et al. 2022

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In this study, we report the experimental findings of a multi-methodological and comparative investigation of a natural (from the Wah Wah Mountains of Beaver County, Utah) and three synthetic (hydrothermally grown) gem-quality red beryls by means of: gemmological standard testing, laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectroscopy, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible–near infrared absorption spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Gemmological, crystallo-chemical, and spectroscopic features of the natural and synthetic stones enabled us to unveil the causes of their color (from red, to purplish-red, or orange-red) and how different and complementary techniques can be efficiently used to discriminate between natural and synthetic materials, based on non-destructive, micro-destructive, and destructive techniques.

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