AQUAMARINE - 3 reference results
aquamarine [Lat.,=seawater], transparent beryl with a blue or bluish-green color. Sources of the gems include Brazil, Siberia, the Union of Myanmar, Madagascar, and parts of the United States. Oriental aquamarine is a transparent crystalline corundum with a bluish tinge. The emerald is similar in composition, differing only in color.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Pale greenish blue or bluish green variety of beryl that is valued as a gemstone. The most common variety of gem beryl, it occurs in pegmatites, in which it forms much larger and clearer crystals than emerald, the dark green variety of beryl. Aquamarine occurs in Brazil, which is the chief source, and in such other sites as the Ural Mountains, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, and Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Colorado in the U.S. Heat treatment is commonly used to improve the colour of gem beryls.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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