Fall 2016 Gems & Gemology
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FALL 2016 VOLUME LII THE UARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE GEMOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA Review of CVD Synthetic Diamonds Reversible Color Alteration of Blue Zircon Sapphires from the Russian Far East Grandidierite from Madagascar Editorial Staff Editor-in-Chief Editors, Lab Notes Contributing Editors Duncan Pay Thomas M. Moses James E. Shigley gia.edu/gems-gemology [email protected] Shane F. McClure Andy Lucas Donna Beaton Subscriptions Managing Editor Editors, Micro-World Copies of the current issue may be purchased for Stuart D. Overlin Nathan Renfro Editor-in-Chief Emeritus $29.95 plus shipping. Subscriptions are $79.99 for one [email protected] Elise A. Skalwold Alice S. Keller year (4 issues) in the U.S. and $99.99 elsewhere. Cana- John I. Koivula dian subscribers should add GST. Discounts are avail- Editor Customer Service able for group subscriptions, GIA alumni, and current Jennifer-Lynn Archuleta Editors, Gem News Martha Erickson GIA students. To purchase print subscriptions, visit [email protected] (760) 603-4502 store.gia.edu or contact Customer Service. For insti- Emmanuel Fritsch tutional rates, contact Customer Service. [email protected] Technical Editors Gagan Choudhary Tao Z. Hsu Christopher M. Breeding Database Coverage Gems & Gemology’s impact factor is 0.394, accord- [email protected] Editorial Assistants ing to the 2015 Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Jennifer Stone-Sundberg Brooke Goedert Reports (issued July 2016). G&G is abstracted in Erin Hogarth Thomson Reuters products (Current Contents: Phys- ical, Chemical & Earth Sciences and Science Cita- tion Index—Expanded, including the Web of Knowledge) and other databases. For a complete list Production Staff of sources abstracting G&G, go to gia.edu/gems- Creative Director Photographers Production Specialist gemology, and click on “Publication Information.” Faizah Bhatti Robert Weldon Juan Zanahuria Kevin Schumacher Manuscript Submissions Image Specialist Multimedia Specialist Gems & Gemology, a peer-reviewed journal, welcomes Eric Welch Video Production Lynn Nguyen the submission of articles on all aspects of the field. Please see the Author Guidelines at gia.edu/gems- Pedro Padua gemology or contact the Managing Editor. Letters on Illustrator Nancy Powers Peter Johnston articles published in G&G are also welcome. Please Betsy Winans note that Field Reports, Lab Notes, Gem News Inter- national, and Micro-World entries are not peer-reviewed sections but do undergo technical and editorial review. Editorial Review Board Copyright and Reprint Permission Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Ahmadjan Abduriyim A.J.A. (Bram) Janse Nathan Renfro Libraries are permitted to photocopy beyond the lim- Tokyo, Japan Perth, Australia Carlsbad, California its of U.S. copyright law for private use of patrons. Timothy Adams E. Alan Jobbins Benjamin Rondeau Instructors are permitted to reproduce isolated arti- San Diego, California Caterham, UK Nantes, France cles and photographs/images owned by G&G for noncommercial classroom use without fee. Use of Edward W. Boehm Mary L. Johnson George R. Rossman photographs/images under copyright by external par- Chattanooga, Tennessee San Diego, California Pasadena, California ties is prohibited without the express permission of James E. Butler Anthony R. Kampf Andy Shen the photographer or owner of the image, as listed in the credits. For other copying, reprint, or republica- Washington, DC Los Angeles, California Wuhan, China tion permission, please contact the Managing Editor. Alan T. Collins Robert E. Kane Guanghai Shi Gems & Gemology is published quarterly by the London, UK Helena, Montana Beijing, China Gemological Institute of America, a nonprofit educa- John L. Emmett Stefanos Karampelas James E. Shigley tional organization for the gem and jewelry industry. Brush Prairie, Washington Basel, Switzerland Carlsbad, California Postmaster: Return undeliverable copies of Gems & Emmanuel Fritsch Lore Kiefert Elisabeth Strack Gemology to GIA, The Robert Mouawad Campus, 5345 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008. Nantes, France Lucerne, Switzerland Hamburg, Germany Our Canadian goods and service registration number Eloïse Gaillou Ren Lu Fanus Viljoen is 126142892RT. Paris, France Wuhan, China Johannesburg, South Africa Any opinions expressed in signed articles are under- Gaston Giuliani Thomas M. Moses Wuyi Wang stood to be opinions of the authors and not of the Nancy, France New York, New York New York, New York publisher. Jaroslav Hyršl Aaron Palke Christopher M. Welbourn Prague, Czech Republic Brisbane, Australia Reading, UK About the Cover Nathan Renfro’s article in this issue describes how exposing blue zircon to long-wave UV radiation causes them to turn brown, and how this color modification can be reversed. The 7.95 ct blue zircon ring on the cover is set in 18K white gold and surrounded by 2.43 carats of rubies. It is shown alongside a similar ring with a 5.46 ct tanzan- ite center stone. Both were designed by Loretta Castoro of Los Angeles for her KissMe collection. Photo by Kevin Schumacher, courtesy of Loretta Castoro. Printing is by L+L Printers, Carlsbad, CA. GIA World Headquarters The Robert Mouawad Campus 5345 Armada Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 USA © 2016 Gemological Institute of America All rights reserved. ISSN 0016-626X Fall 2016 VOLUME 52, No. 3 EDITORIAL 221 Charting the Increasing Availability and Quality of CVD Synthetic Diamonds Duncan Pay FEATURE ARTICLES 222 Observations on CVD-Grown Synthetic Diamonds: A Review Sally Eaton-Magaña and James E. Shigley Explores statistical data and defining characteristics of gem-quality CVD synthetic diamonds examined by GIA since 2003. 246 Reversible Color Modification of Blue Zircon by Long-Wave Ultraviolet Radiation pg. 223 Nathan D. Renfro Determines whether blue zircon that has been inadvertently altered to brown by exposure to long-wave UV can be restored to its original color through the use of incandescent light. NOTES AND NEW TECHNIQUES 252 Sapphires from the Sutara Placer in the Russian Far East pg. 248 Svetlana Yuryevna Buravleva, Sergey Zakharovich Smirnov, Vera Alekseevna Pakhomova, and Dmitrii Gennadyevich Fedoseev Studies the formation and chemical composition of the largely unexamined alluvial sapphires from Russia’s Jewish Autonomous District. 266 A New Deposit of Gem-Quality Grandidierite in Madagascar Delphine Bruyère, Claude Delor, Julien Raoul, Rufin Rakotondranaivo, Guillaume Wille, Nicolas Maubec, and Abdeltif Lahfid pg. 253 Reviews the properties of exceptionally pure grandidierite from a new source. 276 Peridot from the Central Highlands of Vietnam: Properties, Origin, and Formation Nguyen Thi Minh Thuyet, Christoph Hauzenberger, Nguyen Ngoc Khoi, Cong Thi Diep, Chu Van Lam, Nguyen Thi Minh, Nguyen Hoang, and Tobias Häger Analyzes the gemological and geochemical characteristics of peridot from Gia Lai Province alongside specimens from other localities to gain insight into its formation. FIELD REPORTS 288 Bead-Cultured and Non-Bead-Cultured Pearls from Lombok, Indonesia pg. 280 Nicholas Sturman, Jeffery Bergman, Julie Poli, Artitaya Homkrajae, Areeya Manustrong, and Nanthaporn Somsa-ard Documents the retrieval and testing of P. maxima cultured pearls from a Lombok hatchery. REGULAR FEATURES 265 2016 G&G Challenge Winners 298 Lab Notes Focused beam irradiation of treated pink diamond • Treated pink type IIa diamond colored by red luminescence • Very large artificially irradiated diamond • Unusual purple inclusion in emerald • Spondylus calcifer pearls • Black star sapphire filled with lead glass • Green lead glass–filled sapphire rough • Large crystal inclusion in CVD synthetic diamond • Screening of HPHT synthetic melee with natural diamonds • Treated red and green HPHT synthetic diamonds 310 G&G Micro-World Andradite in andradite • Striking growth zoning in beryl • Growth blockages in cat’s-eye beryllonite • Iridescent inclusion in tanzanite • Mobile fluorite inclusion in quartz • Inclusions in spinel from Mada gascar • Sphalerite in topaz • Tourmaline termination • Quarterly crystal: Axinite in quartz 317 Gem News International Aquamarine from a new deposit in Mexico • Colored gemstone mining update from Tanzania • Purple pyrope-almandine garnet from Mozambique • Trapiche rhodochrosite • Rubies reportedly from Pokot, Kenya • Blue sapphire reportedly from Badakhshan, Afghanistan • “Punsiri”-type spectral features in natural yellow sapphire • Large aqueous primary fluid inclusion in amethyst • Identifying impregnated jadeite with the DiamondView • Conference reports • Fred Ward (1935–2016) • Errata Charting the Increasing Availability and Quality of CVD Synthetic Diamonds Welcome to the Fall 2016 Gems & Gemology! This issue brings together synthetic diamonds grown by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, a reversible color modification of zircon, and a rich vein of locality articles including sapphires from Russia, a new Madagascar deposit of the rare gem grandidierite, Vietnamese peridot, and Indonesian cultured pearls. Our lead article, by Drs. Sally Eaton-Magaña and James Shigley, reviews the characteris- tics and key identifying features of CVD synthetic diamonds based on the study of several hundred faceted examples examined by GIA between “GIA researchers review several hundred CVD 2003 and 2016. This synthetics produced between 2003 and 2016.” comprehensive summary shows how the volume and quality of CVD diamonds changed from what the authors term the “pre- commercial” phase prior to 2008, to the range and color of material available