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Normal Topic Elbaite - July, 2016 (Read 1803 times)
Scott LaBorde
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Elbaite - July, 2016
Jul 1st, 2016 at 2:09pm
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When it comes to beautiful muti-color combinations in minerals, elbaite takes the cake. The variety and brightness of colors this mineral produces is amazing. I figured with Independence Day coming up I'd pick a mineral that sometimes has red, white, and blue all in one.

Elbaite, a sodium, lithium, aluminium boro-silicate, is a mineral species belonging to the six member ring cyclosilicate tourmaline group, with the following general composituion: Na(Li1.5Al1.5)Al6Si6O18(BO3)3(OH)4.[3]
Elbaite forms three series, with dravite, with fluor-liddicoatite, and with schorl. Due to these series, specimens with the ideal end-member formula are not found occurring naturally.
As a gemstone, elbaite is a desirable member of the tourmaline group because of the variety and depth of its colours and quality of the crystals. Originally discovered on the island of Elba, Italy in 1913, it has since been found in many parts of the world. In 1994, a major locality was discovered in Canada, at O'Grady Lakes in the Yukon.
Elbaite forms in igneous and metamorphic rocks and veins in association with lepidolite, microcline, and spodumene in granite pegmatites; with andalusite and biotite in schist; and with molybdenite and cassiterite in massive hydrothermal replacement deposits.
Elbaite is allochromatic, meaning trace amounts of impurities can tint crystals, and it can be strongly pleochroic. Every color of the rainbow may be represented by elbaite, some exhibiting multicolor zonation. Microscopic acicular inclusions in some elbaite crystals show the Cat's eye effect in polished cabochons.
Elbaite varieties:
Red or pinkish-red; rubellite variety (from ruby)
Light blue to bluish green; Brazilian indicolite variety (from indigo)
Green—verdelite or Brazilian emerald variety
Colorless—achroite variety (from the Greek "άχρωμος" meaning "colorless")
Watermelon tourmaline is a zoned variety with a reddish center surrounded by a green outer zone resembling watermelon rind, evident in cross section slices of prisms, often displaying curved sides.

The Wikipedia source page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbaite
  
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2016-07-01_1405.png
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Scott LaBorde
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Re: Elbaite - July, 2016
Reply #1 - Jul 1st, 2016 at 2:11pm
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Here's some red, white, and blue, elbaite references:

http://ids.si.edu/ids/dynamic?container.fullpage&id=http://collections.nmnh.si.e...

http://news.minerals.net/image.axd?picture=%2f2015%2f11%2fsmithsonian-museum-gem...

http://www.mindat.org/photo-55781.html

And of course for your viewing pleasure check out all the other wild varieties of colors this wonderful mineral produces: http://www.mindat.org/gm/1364
  
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Re: Elbaite - July, 2016
Reply #2 - Jul 7th, 2016 at 2:00pm
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For purpose of this topic, do all species of the tourmaline group count?
  
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Scott LaBorde
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Re: Elbaite - July, 2016
Reply #3 - Jul 8th, 2016 at 11:04am
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Tim4d wrote on Jul 7th, 2016 at 2:00pm:
For purpose of this topic, do all species of the tourmaline group count?


Yes, you can post any specimen from the tourmaline group here if you like.  I chose elbaite for its multicolor varieties and so I could post something with red, white, and blue.  Wink
  
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