Gemstones of the world

Hi everyone,

Have you ever wondered where your favourite gem came from?  Why are the gems found there?  What is it about the conditions of the country or area that makes it possible for the gems to form there?  Why is it that there is a great diversity as to where the gems are formed?

I find it fascinating that diamonds for example can be found in Canada and also in Africa.  What is it about diamonds that causes them to be created in such different areas of the world?  In the world there are two types of diamond harvesting.  The first is alluvial deposits.  This is where the gemstones are near the surface and are relatively easy to find.  Examples of places like this are Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India.  These are considered secondary deposits.  The gems have been transported there due to weathering and erosion.  It has been said in the book Gems of the World that approximately 80% of diamonds recovered from alluvial deposits are of gem quality because most of the flawed diamonds have been broken up during transport.  There are what is called primary deposits.  This is where the diamond is mined from the stone it was formed in.  I have discovered in the book Gems of the World by Cally Oldershaw that diamonds are also being pulled from the ocean.  On the Namibian coast there are special ships which suck up the sand and diamonds.

 I also find it interesting that garnets are pretty much found all over the world.  They can be found in Europe, Russia, Africa and Australia.  Then there are opals.  They are found in Europe, Australia and North America and Mexico.  Australia is primarily known for the black opal and regular opal and Mexico is primarily known for the fire opal.  I discovered when I looked on the map of where the gems were located that coral is always found around the islands which makes sense as coral the organic material is found in the ocean.  Asia and Africa seem to be the primary places to find the most desired gems.  They have the big four which are diamond, sapphire, emerald and ruby.   They also have garnets, tourmalines, topaz, amethysts, spinels, aquamarines and moonstones.  That is a vast array of different types of gems located in that part of the world.

I was fascinated by the different gemstones of the world.  It is interesting to be able to see where the gemstones come from.  I found that similar areas such as North America and Europe produced similar gemstones and the same with Asia and Africa.  I would think that similar climate conditions would probably produce the same type of gemstone.  I would like to point out that diamond would be different in that fact that it is produced so deep in the earth that it would be possible to have such different climates such as Canada and Africa being able to produce diamonds.  I hope you enjoyed this journey with me and I hope something new was learned.  Please let me know what you think.  I look forward to hearing from like minded people.  Until next time.

The rare gem lady