Garnet Group: Red Pyrope Garnet & Rhodolite
Pyrope Garnet used in Jewelry
Source: Occuring worldwide in variant forms
The name "Garnet" (Grenat French, Granat German, Granate Spanish) comes from the Latin word for pomegranate, malum granatum, due to the resemblance of some varieties of garnets to red pomegranate seeds. Red is the most common color of garnet, but it can be found in a variety of colors from red to golden brown, green, orange, magenta, and yellow. Garnet's use as a gemstone dates back to ancient Egypt, and it has been used by man since the late Bronze Age.
Pyrope Garnet Composition
Garnet refers to a group of minerals commonly found within metamorphic rock and associated with ultramafic igneous rock formations. Garnet is classified as a nesosilicate in the Silicate mineral group. There are six common varieties of garnet that are identified by their chemical composition and color. They are almandine, andradite, grossularite (tsavorite), pyrope, spessartite, and uvarovite.
Rhodolite
Rhodolite (aka pyrope-almandine garnet) is a variety of garnet with a "raspberry red" purplish-pink hue that is a combination of almandite and pyrope garnet, containing trace amounts of aluminum (Al) and magnesium (Mg) as allochromatic coloring agents. Primary sources for Rhodolite are found in Kenya, Mozambique, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the United States, and Zimbabwe. The name Rhodolite comes from the Greek "rhodon lithos" or "rose stone."
Cut Garnet - Photo: Dan Dennis |
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Garnet Group |
Pyrope garnet gemstones are often totally free of inclusions, and are one of the few gemstones that are likely to be free of any type of clarity enhancement or color heat-treatments and irradiation.
Garnet gemstones crystallize in the isometric or cubic crystal system, and have a crystal habit which is primarily dodecahedral and secondarily rhombohedral or trapezohedral. Red pyrope garnet has a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale, and the toughness of pyrope garnet is Fair to Good.
Pyrope Garnet Crystallography, Chemistry, Physical Properties
Pyrope Garnet Optical Properties
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