Watermelon Tourmaline Crystal from Minas Gerais Brazil
Tourmaline is a crystal silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classed as a semi-precious stone and the gem comes in a wide variety of colors. The name comes from the Sinhalese word "turamali" or "toramalli", which applied to different gemstones found in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Tourmaline has a variety of colors. Usually, iron-rich tourmalines are black to bluish-black to deep brown, while magnesium-rich varieties are brown to yellow, and lithium-rich tourmalines are almost any color: blue, green, red, yellow, pink etc. Rarely, it is colorless. Bi-colored and multicolored crystals are common, reflecting variations of fluid chemistry during crystallisation. Crystals may be green at one end and pink at the other, or green on the outside and pink inside: this type is called watermelon tourmaline. Some forms of tourmaline are dichroic, in that they change color when viewed from different directions.
Size: 3361px × 5042px
Photo credit: © Phil Degginger / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bi-colored, boron, brazil, crystal, crystals, geology, gerais, group, metamorphic, minas, mineral, minerals, paraiba, pariba, pegmatites, rock, rocks, silicate, specimen, specimens, tourmaline, watermelon
