Magilus Antiquus Marine Snail
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The Journal of Gemmology2010 / Volume 32 / Nos. 1–4 The Gemmological Association of Great Britain The Journal of Gemmology / 2009 / Volume 31 / No. 5–8 The Gemmological Association of Great Britain 27 Greville Street, London EC1N 8TN T: +44 (0)20 7404 3334 F: +44 (0)20 7404 8843 E: [email protected] W: www.gem-a.com Registered Charity No. 1109555 Registered office: Palladium House, 1–4 Argyll Street, London W1F 7LD President: Prof. A. H. Rankin Vice-Presidents: N. W. Deeks, R. A. Howie, E. A. Jobbins, M. J. O'Donoghue Honorary Fellows: R. A. Howie Honorary Life Members: H. Bank, D. J. Callaghan, T. M. J. Davidson, J. S. Harris, E. A. Jobbins, J. I. Koivula, M. J. O'Donoghue, C. M. Ou Yang, E. Stern, I. Thomson, V. P. Watson, C. H. Winter Chief Executive Officer: J. M. Ogden Council: J. Riley – Chairman, A. T. Collins, S. Collins, B. Jackson, C. J. E. Oldershaw, L. Palmer, R. M. Slater Members’ Audit Committee: A. J. Allnutt, P. Dwyer-Hickey, J. Greatwood, G. M. Green, J. Kalischer Branch Chairmen: Midlands – P. Phillips, North East – M. Houghton, North West – J. Riley, Scottish – B. Jackson, South East – V. Wetten, South West – R. M. Slater The Journal of Gemmology Editor: Dr R. R. Harding Assistant Editor: M. J. O’Donoghue Associate Editors: Dr A. J. Allnutt (Chislehurst), Dr C. E. S. Arps (Leiden), G. Bosshart (Horgen), Prof. A. T. Collins (London), J. Finlayson (Stoke on Trent), Dr J. W. Harris (Glasgow), Prof. R. A. Howie (Derbyshire), E. A. Jobbins (Caterham), Dr J. M. Ogden (London), Prof. A. H. Rankin (Kingston upon Thames), Dr K. Schmetzer (Petershausen), Dr J. E. Shigley (Carlsbad), Prof. D. C. Smith (Paris), E. Stern (London), Prof. I. Sunagawa (Tokyo), Dr M. Superchi (Milan) Production Editor: M. A Burland The Editor is glad to consider original articles shedding new light on subjects of gemmological interest for publication in The Journal of Gemmology. A Guide to the preparation of typescripts for publication in The Journal is given on our website, or contact the Production Editor at the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. Any opinions expressed in The Journal of Gemmology are understood to be the views of the contributors and not necessarily of the publishers. ©2010 Gemmological Association of Great Britain The Journal of Gemmology / 2010 / Volume 32 / No. 1–4 Mexican jadeite-bearing rock: a first mineralogical and gemmological approach Mikhail Ostrooumov and Alfredo Victoria Morales Abstract: Jadeite-bearing pebbles have been found in secondary deposits overlying Cretaceous sediments in the Vizcaino Peninsula, Sierra San Andres, Baja California Sur, Mexico, the first in the country. These pebbles are probably derived from a blueschist assemblage associated with a serpentinite-matrix mélange complex about 2 km north of Puerto Nuevo. Jadeite is accompanied by omphacite and aegirine, and different associated minerals enable distinction from Californian and Guatemalan jadeites. Keywords: EPMA, infrared spectra, jadeite, Mexico, Raman spectra, SEM, XRD Introduction confirmed Mexican jadeite in geological, Jadeite is a well-known but mineralogical and gemmological literature. uncommon mineral that is found in rocks In 2007, Eng. Jorge Diaz de Leon associated with fragmental serpentinites. (Mineral Technology Company) presented Described occurrences are limited to to the Mexican Mineralogical Society some about a dozen worldwide (Harlow green rocks which had been found in the and Sorensen, 2005). Among the few Vizcaino peninsula, Baja California Sur, occurrences of jadeite, only two are Mexico. Using non-destructive infrared described from the Americas. The major reflection spectrometry we established 1 c m deposits in serpentinite bodies along that these samples (see Figure 1) contain the central Motagua Valley in Guatemala Figure 1: Jadeite-bearing pebble from Baja jadeite (Ostrooumov, 2007), so this is California Sur State, Mexico. served as the source of carved jade for the first confirmed occurrence of jadeite Middle America (Bishop et al., 1993; jadeite-aegirine combined with a variety of in Mexico. The purpose of the present Breuckner et al., 2005). The minor but other minerals and generally dissimilar to work is to characterize the mineralogical well-described occurrence along Clear jadeite-rich rocks used for carving. and chemical composition, spectroscopic Creek, New Idria serpentinite, in San Panczner (1989) reported the presence parameters and gemmological Benito County, California (Coleman, 1961) of jadeite from Mexico in the state of characteristics of these jadeite-bearing does not appear to have been used as a Guerrero, municipalities of Arcelia rocks. cultural source of jadeite. and Texco, and in the state of Mexico, Jadeite rocks from other parts of municipality of Tejupilco, without any Location California have been reported in lapidary mineralogical analysis, but more recent The Vizcaino peninsula is a literature (Foshag and Leslie, 1955; fieldwork has not confirmed the presence mountainous region located on the Foshag, 1957; Castro and Castro, 1979; of jadeite in these geological settings western side of Baja California. The Pashin, 1995) but observations by Harlow (Keeman, 1999). The present authors peninsula is underlain by Triassic et al. (2006) find them to be selvages of have not found a description of any ophiolite, Jurassic island-arc rocks, ©2010 Gemmological Association of Great Britain Page 1 The Journal of Gemmology / 2010 / Volume 32 / No. 1–4 Mexican jadeite-bearing rock: a first mineralogical and gemmological approach Figure 2: Back Results and discussion scattered electron (BSE) image of jadeite- Mineralogical and chemical bearing rock showing larger crystals of composition jadeite (Jd) and The main mineral phases in the omphacite (Omp) in Mexican jadeite assemblages are jadeite a finer-grained matrix (pale green), omphacite (dark green), which contains the aegirine (green to black) and albite (Figure same pyroxenes and 2). Also visible under the microscope is a some titanite (Ttn). network of very small prisms overgrown by a matrix of impure jadeite. There are sporadic grains of colourless titanite and analcime which are surrounded by overgrowths on omphacite prisms. Some less common minerals present are zoisite, allanite and celsian (Table I). Mesozoic blueschist and Cretaceous as 30 cm across. In our opinion, these This mineralogical assemblage differs submarine-fan deposits (Barnes and pebbles were formed by abrasion and from that of jadeite rock from Guatemala Mattison, 1981), overlain by a secondary transportation of primary metamorphic which commonly contains quartz, deposit in which jadeite-bearing pebbles rocks from their source in the blueschist- white-brown mica (phengitic muscovite, were discovered near 27°31' 40" N, bearing serpentinite mélange at Puerto paragonite, phologopite and preiswerkite), 114°43' 39" W. The jadeite-bearing Nuevo. This mélange complex has been amphibole (actinolite, taramite) and some fragments range from a few cm to as large described in detail by Moore (1986). typical accessory minerals (titanite, rutile, zircon, apatite and chlorite), and also from the jadeitites of the New Idria serpentinite (San Benito County, California) which Experimental and technical background contain quartz, lawsonite and zircon. Fifty-five pyroxene analyses were From a range of the green jadeite- In this study, three polished obtained and typical compositions bearing rocks three were collected for sections were examined with Raman are shown in Table II; the molecular analysis. They were ground to produce microprobe (RMP). Their Raman spectra percentages of end-members jadeite (Jd), flat surfaces and polished with diamond were recorded using the λL=514.5 diopside (Di, CaMgSi2O6), hedenbergite and alumina abrasives. The polished nm line of an Ar+ laser with a Jobin- 2+ (Hd, CaFe Si2O6), aegirine (Ac, samples were microscopically imaged Yvon T64000 spectrometer equipped 3+ NaFe Si2O6), enstatite (En, Mg2Si2O6) using a Hitachi S-4700 Field Emission- with a multichannel charge-coupled and ferrosilite (Fs, Fe2Si2O6) were then Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) device (CCD) detector cooled at 77K. calculated from them. The compositions with a back-scattered electron (BSE) The samples were analyzed under an range from Jd100 to omphacite, nominally detector and PGT-Imix energy-dispersive Olympus microscope with 50× and 100× Jd50[Di+Hd]50 but could reach as X-ray spectrometric (EDS) analyser. objectives giving 2 μm spatial resolution. low as Jd40[Di+Hd]60. The aegirine Electron-microprobe analysis of these Infrared spectra were collected using a component typically increases with samples to determine concentrations Tensor 27 FTIR spectrometer (Brüker) omphacite content. When plotted on of the major constituent elements in with a Hyperion microscope and the ternary diagram Jadeite–(Diopside + the minerals (except O) was carried Variable Angle Specular Reflectance Hedenbergite)–Aegirine (Figure 3), the out using a Cameca SX100 instrument Accesory (VeeMaxII, PIKE Technologies), 55 analyses show extensive isomorphic operating at 15 kV and 10 nA sample accumulating 100 scans at a resolution substitution. All analysed grains of the −1 current, employing a point beam. of 4 cm . The UV-Visible-NIR absorption jadeites contain iron in ferric and ferrous X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were spectra were recorded from 200 to states. At the same time, only five analyses obtained using a Brüker AXS-D8 2500 nm using a Perkin-Elmer LAMBDA showed traces of Cr. Thus, the Mexican