Material
One variety of beryl
Aquamarine is blue to greenish-blue beryl. These 4 entries compare specimens, each with its own form and catalogue locality.
Stone Explorer → Aquamarine comparison tool
Aquamarine specimens, side by side.
Compare 4 natural aquamarine specimens, from a prism on matrix to a tapered, etched form. Follow one pegmatite-pocket growth pathway.
Aquamarine file · 4 natural specimen records
Two ways in · pick one
Each specimen opens its own file.
Evidence
What the photograph records.
Use the images to compare stones. Check the record for identity and treatment.
Colour
Iron and viewing conditions
Iron contributes the colour. Light direction, thickness and the photograph also influence the blue you see.
Records
Origin and treatment
Locality follows the catalogue entry. Treatment has a separate history; natural material can have been heated.
Sources
Sources + specimen credits
Mineral identity, a bounded formation pathway and the original specimen records.
Beryl, aquamarine and trade namesMaterial and evidence
Aquamarine is a colour variety of beryl. Santa Maria is a trade name, with no independent proof of Brazilian origin. Maxixe names a different blue beryl colour type.
GIA · Aquamarine · GIA · Aquamarine buyer’s guide · European Journal of Mineralogy · Beryl colour (2024)
Iron and colourMaterial and evidence
Iron-related absorption produces the blue to greenish-blue range. The detailed iron sites and absorption mechanisms remain subjects of research. Heating commonly reduces a yellow-green component.
GIA · Colour in blue to yellow beryl · European Journal of Mineralogy · Beryl colour (2024) · GIA · Aquamarine
One pegmatite pathwayMaterial and evidence
Aquamarine often occurs in granitic pegmatites. At Massangana in Brazil, researchers studied growth zoning and fluid inclusions in pocket-grown aquamarine. That study provides a growth example; the 4 photographs show other localities.
Handbook of Mineralogy · Beryl · Hoyer et al. · Massangana aquamarine (2020)
Reading the specimen recordsMaterial and evidence
Catalogue localities apply to these individual specimens. Photograph colour and shape alone establish neither origin nor treatment. Each image retains its author and licence below.
Shigar matrix specimenCC BY-SA 3.0
Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Proportional resize and WebP compression. Colour unchanged. Image derivatives: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Minas Gerais etched specimenCC BY-SA 3.0
Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Proportional resize and WebP compression. Colour unchanged. Image derivatives: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Sawtooth blue specimenCC BY-SA 3.0
Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Proportional resize and WebP compression. Colour unchanged. Image derivatives: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Formation drawingPegmatite pocket
The cutaway shows one possible pegmatite-pocket pathway. Growth zones are enlarged schematically. It represents no particular deposit.
Colour, clarity and crystal formMaterial reference
Aquamarine ranges from pale to stronger blue and greenish blue. Iron contributes to its colour. Lighting and the thickness viewed affect photographs, so these specimens are not a calibrated colour scale. Clear, cloudy and included material can occur in prisms, on matrix or with etched surfaces.
Open sourceTubes, fluid and cat’s-eyeMaterial reference
Aquamarine can contain growth zoning, elongated tubes and fluid inclusions. Aligned fine channels or inclusions can produce a cat’s-eye band when the material is suitably cut and lit. A few visible tubes do not establish chatoyancy. The rough photographs show crystal appearance; the linked study documents the optical phenomenon.
Open sourceSanta Maria, Maxixe and heatingMaterial reference
Santa Maria is used as a commercial colour description and alone guarantees no locality. Maxixe-type blue beryl has a different colour-centre mechanism and can fade in light. Heating aquamarine can reduce yellow or green components. Natural geological origin and an unheated state are separate claims.
Open source
