Katie Douglass, Katie Michelau, Erin Roy

Zircon

Colors: yellow, brown, reddish-brown, orange, light blue, light green, light purple, and pink Hardness on Moh’s scale: 7½ Known for luster and fire Color diversity traced by certain elements

Locations Zircon is found in many places. Here are a few places: Australia, France, Nigeria, and USA Gem quality materials are found: Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia

SAPPHIRE

Sapphire Colors: Blue, yellow, green, white, colorless, pink, orange and purple Hardness on Moh’s scale: 9 Desirable because of color, hardness, durability, and luster Most popular of gemstones

Locations A large number of sapphires are found in Montana. Missouri River Rock Creek Dry Cottonwood Creek Montana alone has produced over 190 carats in these three locations *Sapphires are found in other places around the world. Madagascar is another particular location.

OPAL

Opal Colors: colorless, white, orange, yellow, red, purple, blue, green, gray, black, brown (all base colors); many colors can usually be seen at once Hardness: 5.5 – 6.5 Known for being the most colorful of all gems Can form fossils Mineraloid gel that is deposited at relatively low temperatures

Locations Forms in rocks Most common in: –Ironstone –Sandstone –Basalt Largest fractions are found in: –Australia –Mexico –United States Also found in England and Czech Republic

RUBY

Ruby Color: bright red, brownish-red, purplish- red, dark red Hardness: 9 Known for its fiery red color Desirable for its hardness, durability, luster, and rarity Transparent large sized rubies are more rare than diamonds

Locations Comes from: –Africa –Asia –Australia Mostly found in: –Sri Lanka –Thailand –India –Burma Also found in the U.S. in Montana, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina

Beryl Beryl is a mineral of gemstones Pure beryl is colorless, but impurities cause the gemstone to be found in a wide range of colors –Green beryl is called Emerald –Light blue to blue-green beryl is called Aquamarine

Beryl gemstones’ geographical location Emeralds come from Muzo and Chivor, Colombia. Other locations include Minas Gerais, Brazil; the Ural Mountains of Russia; the Cobra and Somerset Mines in Transvaal, South Africa; and the Habatchal in Austria. In the U.S., the only place to find emerald deposits is in North Carolina. Aquamarine comes from many places in Brazil, in the states of Minas Gerais, Bahia, and Esperito Santo. Other locations include central Madagascar, Mungo, Baltistan, Pakistan and in Russia. In the U.S., Aquamarine is found in the New England states, Colorado, California, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah.

Beryl’s uses Beryl is the main source of Beryllium which is a tough metal used in alloys for added strength. Beryl is also used to form many gems. –Emerald is one of the most valuable gems. –Aquamarine is a semi-precious gem and is the most popular light blue gem.

Diamond Diamond is the most prized of gems, and is also the hardest substance on Earth. Diamond is the greatest conductor of heat. Color is graded a letter D through Z from an alphabetical scale:

Diamond’s geographical location Diamonds are not found in many places. They are found in South Africa; Namibia, Russia; Australia and Brazil. In the U.S., diamond is found in Pike County, Arkansas and in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Some diamonds have also been found in Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories, Canada.

Diamond’s uses Diamond is popular in jewelry. –It is the most expensive gem because of it’s brilliance, hardness and rarity. But 80% of mined diamonds are used as abrasives, thermal insulators, in optics and in electronics.