Desert Messenger

14 www.DesertMessenger.com December 17, 2014 SEE ROCKS PAGE 18 I like simplicity. That's why I like nature, the outdoors, and, of course, rocks. Rocks are simple. No Drama, no complex issues that drag on and on. They are just simple compounds or combinations of minerals - copper ox- ide, iron sulfate, silicon dioxide - most of the time, anyway. Their colors are simple- malachite is green, azurite is blue, amethyst is purple. Even their issues are simple. An extra molecule of carbon makes quartz into a her- kimer diamond. One extra molecule of water is an issue, albeit a simple one, between azurite and malachite. Aluminum showing up in a copper oxide environment creates turquoise. There isn't any drama- just a simple and straightforward response to a sit- uation, the way life should be. But then there is tourmaline. Tour- maline is not simple. In fact tourma- line is one of the most complex gem- stones that exists. Tourmaline is a crystalline boron silicate compounded By Jenn Jedidiah Free for RocksInMyHead™ Tourmaline - The Drama Queen ADVENTURES WITH ROCKS with minerals such as aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, potas- sium, nickel, copper, chrome, vana- dium, and manganese. In addition to several minor and rare members, there are six major groups of minerals that are considered tourmalines: Elbaite, Schorl, Dravite, Uvite, Liddicoatite, and Buergerite. Of the two chemical formulas for Tourmaline, the "simpler" of the two is (Na,Ca)(Mg,Li,Al,Fe2+)3 Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4. Yes, there is actually a more complex one. Tourmaline can be found in many geo- logic environments, from granite to pegmatite, to schist and marble, and even sandstone and conglomerates. The crystal structure of tourmaline is slender to thick, prismatic and colum- nar, with triangular cross sections and curved striated faces. The color of tour- maline is black, brown, green, teal, red, pink, salmon, blue, gray, white, color- less, yellow, orange, and purple. And if that is not confusing enough, crystals are frequently multicolored. To make matters worse, some specimens are pleochroic- which means the crystal absorbs wavelenghts of light differ- ently depending on which direction it is viewed from. In other words, even the same crystal can be colored differ- ently depending on which way you look at it. And some, but not all, are fl oures- cent. Got all that? Whew...I'm tired just from writing it. Fortunately, tourmaline is beautiful or most of us who love rocks would prob- ably hate it. While Tourmaline can be found in several coun- tries around the world, most gem grade Tour- maline comes from Mozambique, Brazil and the United States. The tourmaline from Brazil is found in every color, but the most fa- mous, and most rare, is the green to tur- quoise-colored Parai- ba Elbaite. The cop- per-rich mountains of Mozambique also produce a tourmaline of the same coloration and often called by the same name. In Maine, Tour- maline was discovered in the moun- tains west of Portland in 1820, and has been mined there ever since. Deep rich greens have been mined at Mt. Mica and Mt. Apatite. Plumbago Moun- tain is known for apple-green shades and the world's largest and fi nest pink crystals. Blue tourmaline, sometimes called Indicolite, is the rarest gem color native to Maine. Watermelon, Bi-color, and tri-color crystals, including a rare blue/green/gray tri-colored combina- tion, were fi rst discovered in Maine in 1902. These are some of the most unique forms of tourmaline, having two or more varieties of the stone in the same crystal. In 1903, Tourmaline was discovered in San Diego County, California. The Tourmaline Queen Mine was the lead- ing producer of Tourmaline in the Pala District from 1904 to 1914. During this time the market was fueled by high demand for pink stones by Chinese Royalty, but the mar- ket collapsed in 1911 due to the overthrow of the Chinese Impe- rial government. From 1914 to 1971, the Tour- maline Mines in Pala were worked intermit- tently, until a spectacu- lar fi nd in 1972 fueled a renewed interest in the tourmalines of San Di- ego County. In 1972, the Tourmaline Queen produced several large rubellite tourmaline specimens, and a huge pocket of rare bi-colors called the "Blue-Cap Pocket". This pocket of sticky reddish gray clay pro- duced enormous specimens of a deep red tourmaline with a vivid blue cap at the termination. This pocket was dubbed "the fi nd of the century" and the drama of the Pala Tourmalines had begun. Shortly afterward, the drama was repeated twice with the discovery of two more major fi nds. The famous Candelabra Tourmaline from the Blue- Cap Pocket discovery is on display to- day in the Smithsonian. Pattie's RV Park OPEN YEAR-ROUND! 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