All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different species are pyrope, almandine, spessartine, grossular (varieties of which are hessonite or cinnamon-stone and tsavorite), uvarovite and andradite. The garnets make up two solid solution series: pyrope-almandine-spessartine (pyralspite), with the composition range .mw-parser-output .template-chem2-sudisplay:inline-block;font-size:80%;line-height:1;vertical-align:-0.35em.mw-parser-output .template-chem2-su>spandisplay:block;text-align:left.mw-parser-output sub.template-chem2-subfont-size:80%;vertical-align:-0.35em.mw-parser-output sup.template-chem2-supfont-size:80%;vertical-align:0.65em[Mg,Fe,Mn]3Al2(SiO4)3; and uvarovite-grossular-andradite (ugrandite), with the composition range Ca3[Cr,Al,Fe]2(SiO4)3.
The word garnet comes from the 14th-century Middle English word gernet, meaning 'dark red'. It is borrowed from Old French grenate from Latin granatus, from granum ('grain, seed').[3] This is possibly a reference to mela granatum or even pomum granatum ('pomegranate',[4] Punica granatum), a plant whose fruits contain abundant and vivid red seed covers (arils), which are similar in shape, size, and color to some garnet crystals.[5] Hessonite garnet is also named 'gomed' in Indian literature and is one of the 9 jewels in Vedic astrology that compose the Navaratna.[6]
garnet
Because the chemical composition of garnet varies, the atomic bonds in some species are stronger than in others. As a result, this mineral group shows a range of hardness on the Mohs scale of about 6.0 to 7.5.[13] The harder species like almandine are often used for abrasive purposes.[14]
For gem identification purposes, a pick-up response to a strong neodymium magnet separates garnet from all other natural transparent gemstones commonly used in the jewelry trade. Magnetic susceptibility measurements in conjunction with refractive index can be used to distinguish garnet species and varieties, and determine the composition of garnets in terms of percentages of end-member species within an individual gem.[15]
Almandine, sometimes incorrectly called almandite, is the modern gem known as carbuncle (though originally almost any red gemstone was known by this name).[16] The term "carbuncle" is derived from the Latin meaning "live coal" or burning charcoal. The name Almandine is a corruption of Alabanda, a region in Asia Minor where these stones were cut in ancient times. Chemically, almandine is an iron-aluminium garnet with the formula Fe3Al2(SiO4)3; the deep red transparent stones are often called precious garnet and are used as gemstones (being the most common of the gem garnets).[17] Almandine occurs in metamorphic rocks like mica schists, associated with minerals such as staurolite, kyanite, andalusite, and others.[18] Almandine has nicknames of Oriental garnet,[19] almandine ruby, and carbuncle.[16]
Spessartine or spessartite is manganese aluminium garnet, Mn3Al2(SiO4)3. Its name is derived from Spessart in Bavaria.[3] It occurs most often in skarns,[3] granite pegmatite and allied rock types,[23] and in certain low grade metamorphic phyllites. Spessartine of an orange-yellow is found in Madagascar.[24] Violet-red spessartines are found in rhyolites in Colorado[21] and Maine.[citation needed]
Other varieties of color-changing garnets exist. In daylight, their color ranges from shades of green, beige, brown, gray, and blue, but in incandescent light, they appear a reddish or purplish/pink color.[25]
Andradite is a calcium-iron garnet, Ca3Fe2(SiO4)3, is of variable composition and may be red, yellow, brown, green or black.[3] The recognized varieties are demantoid (green), melanite (black),[3] and topazolite (yellow or green). Andradite is found in skarns[3] and in deep-seated igneous rocks like syenite[27] as well as serpentines[28] and greenschists.[29] Demantoid is one of the most prized of garnet varieties.[30]
Grossular is a calcium-aluminium garnet with the formula Ca3Al2(SiO4)3, though the calcium may in part be replaced by ferrous iron and the aluminium by ferric iron. The name grossular is derived from the botanical name for the gooseberry, grossularia, in reference to the green garnet of this composition that is found in Siberia. Other shades include cinnamon brown (cinnamon stone variety), red, and yellow.[3] Because of its inferior hardness to zircon, which the yellow crystals resemble, they have also been called hessonite from the Greek meaning inferior.[31] Grossular is found in skarns,[3] contact metamorphosed limestones with vesuvianite, diopside, wollastonite and wernerite.
Uvarovite is a calcium chromium garnet with the formula Ca3Cr2(SiO4)3. This is a rather rare garnet, bright green in color, usually found as small crystals associated with chromite in peridotite, serpentinite, and kimberlites. It is found in crystalline marbles and schists in the Ural mountains of Russia and Outokumpu, Finland. Uvarovite is named for Count Uvaro, a Russian imperial statesman.[3]
Knorringite is a magnesium-chromium garnet species with the formula Mg3Cr2(SiO4)3. Pure endmember knorringite never occurs in nature. Pyrope rich in the knorringite component is only formed under high pressure and is often found in kimberlites. It is used as an indicator mineral in the search for diamonds.[34]
The crystallographic structure of garnets has been expanded from the prototype to include chemicals with the general formula A3B2(CO4)3. Besides silicon, a large number of elements have been put on the C site, including germanium, gallium, aluminum, vanadium and iron.[35]
Yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG), Y3Al2(AlO4)3, is used for synthetic gemstones. Due to its fairly high refractive index, YAG was used as a diamond simulant in the 1970s until the methods of producing the more advanced simulant cubic zirconia in commercial quantities were developed. When doped with neodymium (Nd3+), YAG may be used as the lasing medium in Nd:YAG lasers.[36] When doped with erbium, it can be used as the lasing medium in Er:YAG lasers. When doped with gadolinium, it can be used as the lasing medium in Gd:YAG lasers. These doped YAG lasers are used in medical procedures including laser skin resurfacing, dentistry, and ophthalmology.[37][38][39]
Interesting magnetic properties arise when the appropriate elements are used. In yttrium iron garnet (YIG), Y3Fe2(FeO4)3, the five iron(III) ions occupy two octahedral and three tetrahedral sites, with the yttrium(III) ions coordinated by eight oxygen ions in an irregular cube. The iron ions in the two coordination sites exhibit different spins, resulting in magnetic behavior. YIG is a ferrimagnetic material having a Curie temperature of 550 K. Yttrium iron garnet can be made into YIG spheres, which serve as magnetically tunable filters and resonators for microwave frequencies.[citation needed]
Lutetium aluminium garnet (LuAG), Al5Lu3O12, is an inorganic compound with a unique crystal structure primarily known for its use in high-efficiency laser devices. LuAG is also useful in the synthesis of transparent ceramics.[40] LuAG is particularly favored over other crystals for its high density and thermal conductivity; it has a relatively small lattice constant in comparison to the other rare-earth garnets, which results in a higher density producing a crystal field with narrower linewidths and greater energy level splitting in absorption and emission.[41]
Terbium gallium garnet (TGG), Tb3Ga5O12, is a Faraday rotator material with excellent transparency properties and is very resistant to laser damage. TGG can be used in optical isolators for laser systems, in optical circulators for fiber optic systems, in optical modulators, and in current and magnetic field sensors.[42]
Another example is gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG), Gd3Ga2(GaO4)3 which is synthesized for use as a substrate for liquid-phase epitaxy of magnetic garnet films for bubble memory and magneto-optical applications.[citation needed]
The mineral garnet is commonly found in metamorphic and to a lesser extent, igneous rocks. Most natural garnets are compositionally zoned and contain inclusions.[43] Its crystal lattice structure is stable at high pressures and temperatures and is thus found in green-schist facies metamorphic rocks including gneiss, hornblende schist, and mica schist.[44] The composition that is stable at the pressure and temperature conditions of Earth's mantle is pyrope, which is often found in peridotites and kimberlites, as well as the serpentines that form from them.[44] Garnets are unique in that they can record the pressures and temperatures of peak metamorphism and are used as geobarometers and geothermometers in the study of geothermobarometry which determines "P-T Paths", Pressure-Temperature Paths. Garnets are used as an index mineral in the delineation of isograds in metamorphic rocks.[44] Compositional zoning and inclusions can mark the change from growth of the crystals at low temperatures to higher temperatures.[45] Garnets that are not compositionally zoned more than likely experienced ultra high temperatures (above 700 C) that led to diffusion of major elements within the crystal lattice, effectively homogenizing the crystal[45] or they were never zoned. Garnets can also form metamorphic textures that can help interpret structural histories.[45]
In addition to being used to devolve conditions of metamorphism, garnets can be used to date certain geologic events. Garnet has been developed as a U-Pb geochronometer, to date the age of crystallization[46] as well as a thermochronometer in the (U-Th)/He system[47] to date timing of cooling below a closure temperature.
Red garnets were the most commonly used gemstones in the Late Antique Roman world, and the Migration Period art of the "barbarian" peoples who took over the territory of the Western Roman Empire. They were especially used inlaid in gold cells in the cloisonné technique, a style often just called garnet cloisonné, found from Anglo-Saxon England, as at Sutton Hoo, to the Black Sea. Thousands of Tamraparniyan gold, silver and red garnet shipments were made in the old world, including to Rome, Greece, the Middle East, Serica and Anglo Saxons; recent findings such as the Staffordshire Hoard and the pendant of the Winfarthing Woman skeleton of Norfolk confirm an established gem trade route with South India and Tamraparni (ancient Sri Lanka), known from antiquity for its production of gemstones.[48][49][50] 2ff7e9595c
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