20/02/2016
Aquamarine is a member of the beryl family, a group of gemstones including:
Emerald: Chromium and vanadium colored green beryl.
Heliordor: Golden beryl
Goshenite: Colorless beryl.
Morganite: Pink beryl.
Bixbite: Red beryl.
Maxixe: Blue beryl which color fade in sunlight.
Aquamarine was named by the Romans over 2000 years ago, derived from words that mean "water of the sea", which is what it reminds one of with its clear blue color.
Aquamarine is the name given to iron colored beryl which comes in colors from pale blue to rich sky blue or greenish blue. The preferred color for aquamarine today is rich sky blue. Most aquamarine occurs without any, or very few, inclusions, making it a very eye-pleasing stone.
Because of the shape of the rough that occurs as long prismatic crystals, aquamarine is most often fashioned as a step-cut emerald shape. Fine aquamarine crystals are very appreciated by mineral collectors when they occurs in fine colorful clean hexagonal columns.
Aquamarine is a "dichroic" stone which means that it shows more than one color, depending on which way you look at it. From one view it may appear a rich blue, greenish, or greenish-blue while from another angle it may appear to be nearly colorless.
Nowadays most of the aquamarine in the market owns its deep coloration from heat treatment at 400 to 450 degres of lower colored material. This coloration is stable unlike the possible coloration resulting from irradiation.
Most aquamarine mined today comes from pegmatites in Brazil, but it is also found in alluvial gravels. Fine aquamarines are also found in the Sakangyi area in the west of the Mogok stone tract in Burma (Myanmar). Other occurrences are in Australia, Russia, Madagascar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, and India. Each locality produces a different color variation, sometimes making it possible to identify a stone's origin from color alone.
Aquamarine is brittle and sensitive to pressure. It is also sensitive to high temperature and may loose color if heated to high. Care must be so taken when making some aquamarine jewelry.
