Garnet

For other uses, see Garnet (disambiguation).

Garnet
General
Category	Nesosilicate
Chemical formula	The general formula X3Y2(SiO4)3
Identification
Color	virtually all colors
Crystal habit	rhombic dodecahedra or cubic
Crystal system	Cubic rhombic dodecahedron,icositetrahedron
Cleavage	Indistinct
Fracture	conchoidal to uneven
Mohs scale hardness	6.5 - 7.5
Luster	vitreous to resinous
Streak	White
Specific gravity	3.1 - 4.3
Polish luster	vitreous to subadamantine[1]
Optical properties	Single refractive, often anomalous double refractive[1]
Refractive index	1.72 - 1.94
Birefringence	None
Pleochroism	None
Major varieties
Pyrope	Mg3Al2Si3O12
Almandine	Fe3Al2Si3O12
Spessartine	Mn3Al2Si3O12
Andradite	Ca3Fe2Si3O12
Grossular	Ca3Al2Si3O12
Uvarovite	Ca3Cr2Si3O12

The garnet (pronounced /ˈɡɑrnɨt/) group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus ("grain"), possibly a reference to the Punica granatum ("pomegranate"), a plant with red seeds similar in shape, size, and color to some garnet crystals.

Six common species of garnet are recognized by their chemical composition. They 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: 1. pyrope-almandine-spessarite and 2. uvarovite-grossular-andradite.

Physical properties

Properties

Garnets species are found in many colors including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, pink and colorless. The rarest of these is the blue garnet, discovered in the late 1990s in Bekily, Madagascar. It is also found in parts of the United States, Russia and Turkey. It changes color from blue-green in the daylight to purple in incandescent light, as a result of the relatively high amounts of vanadium (about 1 wt.% V₂O₃). 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. Because of their color changing quality, this kind of garnet is often mistaken for Alexandrite.

A sample showing the deep red color garnet can exhibit.

Garnet species’s light transmission properties can range from the gemstone-quality transparent specimens to the opaque varieties used for industrial purposes as abrasives. The mineral’s luster is categorized as vitreous (glass-like) or resinous (amber-like).

Crystal structure

Molecular model of garnet.

Garnets are nesosilicates having the general formula X₃Y₂(Si O₄)₃. The X site is usually occupied by divalent cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe²⁺) and the Y site by trivalent cations (Al³⁺, Fe³⁺, Cr³⁺) in an octahedral/tetrahedral framework with [SiO₄]⁴⁻ occupying the tetrahedra.^[2] Garnets are most often found in the dodecahedral crystal habit, but are also commonly found in the trapezohedron habit. (Note: the word "trapezohedron" as used here and in most mineral texts refers to the shape called a Deltoidal icositetrahedron in solid geometry.) They crystallize in the cubic system, having three axes that are all of equal length and perpendicular to each other. Garnets do not show cleavage, so when they fracture under stress, sharp irregular pieces are formed.

Hardness

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 6.5 to 7.5. The harder species, like almandine, are often used for abrasive purposes.

Garnet group endmember species

Pyralspite garnets - Aluminium in Y site

• Almandine: Fe₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃
• Pyrope: Mg₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃
• Spessartine: Mn₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃

Almandine

Almandine in metamorphic rock

Almandine, sometimes incorrectly called almandite, is the modern gem known as carbuncle (though originally almost any red gemstone was known by this name). 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). Almandine occurs in metamorphic rocks like mica schists, associated with minerals such as staurolite, kyanite, andalusite, and others. Almandine has nicknames of Oriental garnet, almandine ruby, and carbuncle.

Pyrope

Pyrope (from the Greek pyrōpós meaning "fire-eyed") is red in color and chemically a magnesium aluminium silicate with the formula Mg₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃, though the magnesium can be replaced in part by calcium and ferrous iron. The color of pyrope varies from deep red to almost black. Transparent pyropes are used as gemstones.

A variety of pyrope from Macon County, North Carolina is a violet-red shade and has been called rhodolite, from the Greek meaning "a rose." In chemical composition it may be considered as essentially an isomorphous mixture of pyrope and almandine, in the proportion of two parts pyrope to one part almandine. Pyrope has tradenames some of which are misnomers; Cape ruby, Arizona ruby, California ruby, Rocky Mountain ruby, and Bohemian garnet from the Czech Republic. Another intriguing find is the blue color-changing garnets from Madagascar, a pyrope spessartine mix. The color of these blue garnets is not like sapphire blue in subdued daylight but more reminiscent of the grayish blues and greenish blues sometimes seen in spinel. However, in white LED light the color is equal to the best cornflower blue sapphire, or D block tanzanite; this is due to the blue garnet's ability to absorb the yellow component of the emitted light.

Pyrope is an indicator mineral for high-pressure rocks. The garnets from mantle derived rocks, peridotites and eclogites, commonly contain a pyrope variety.

Spessartine

Spessartine (the reddish mineral)

Spessartine or spessartite is manganese aluminium garnet, Mn₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃. Its name is derived from Spessart in Bavaria. It occurs most often in granite pegmatite and allied rock types and in certain low grade metamorphic phyllites. Spessartine of an orange-yellow is found in Madagascar. Violet-red spessartines are found in rhyolites in Colorado and Maine.

Ugrandite group - calcium in X site

• Andradite: Ca₃Fe₂(SiO₄)₃
• Grossular: Ca₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃
• Uvarovite: Ca₃Cr₂(SiO₄)₃

Andradite

Andradite is a calcium-iron garnet, Ca₃Fe₂(SiO₄)₃, is of variable composition and may be red, yellow, brown, green or black. The recognized varieties are topazolite (yellow or green), demantoid (green) and melanite (black). Andradite is found both in deep-seated igneous rocks like syenite as well as serpentines, schists, and crystalline limestone. Demantoid has been called the "emerald of the Urals" from its occurrence there, and is one of the most prized of garnet varieties. Topazolite is a golden yellow variety and melanite is a black variety.

Grossular

Grossular on display at the US National Museum of Natural History. The green gem at right is a type of grossular known as tsavorite.

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. Because of its inferior hardness to zircon, which the yellow crystals resemble, they have also been called hessonite from the Greek meaning inferior. Grossular is found in contact metamorphosed limestones with vesuvianite, diopside, wollastonite and wernerite.

Grossular garnet from Kenya and Tanzania has been called tsavorite. Tsavorite was first described in the 1960s in the Tsavo area of Kenya, from which the gem takes its name.^{[citation needed]}

Uvarovite

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.

Less common species

• Calcium in X site
  • Goldmanite: Ca₃V₂(SiO₄)₃
  • Kimzeyite: Ca₃(Zr,Ti)₂[(Si,Al,Fe³⁺)O₄]₃
  • Morimotoite: Ca₃Ti⁴⁺Fe²⁺(SiO₄)₃
  • Schorlomite: Ca₃(Ti⁴⁺,Fe³⁺)₂[(Si,Ti)O₄]₃
• Hydroxide bearing - calcium in X site
  • Hydrogrossular: Ca₃Al₂(SiO₄)_3-x(OH)_4x
    • Hibschite: Ca₃Al₂(SiO₄)_3-x(OH)_4x (where x is between 0.2 and 1.5)
    • Katoite: Ca₃Al₂(SiO₄)_3-x(OH)_4x (where x is greater than 1.5)
• Magnesium or manganese in X site
  • Knorringite: Mg₃Cr₂(SiO₄)₃
  • Majorite: Mg₃(Fe,Al,Si)₂(SiO₄)₃
  • Calderite: Mn₃Fe³⁺₂(SiO₄)₃

Knorringite

Knorringite is a magnesium chromium garnet species with the formula Mg₃Cr₂(SiO₄)₃. Pure endmember knorringite never occurs in nature. Knorringite is only formed under high pressure and is often found in kimberlites. It is used as an indicator mineral in the search for diamonds.

Garnet structural group

• Formula: X₃Z₂(TO₄)₃ (X = Ca, Fe, etc., Z = Al, Cr, etc., T = Si, As, V, Fe, Al)
  • All are cubic or strongly pseudocubic.

IMA/CNMNC Nickel-Strunz Mineral class	Mineral name	Formula	Crystal system	Point group	Space group
04 Oxide	Bitikleite-(SnAl)	Ca3SnSb(AlO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
04 Oxide	Bitikleite-(SnFe)	Ca3(SnSb5+)Fe3+3O12	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
04 Oxide	Bitikleite-(ZrFe)	Ca3SbZr(Fe3+O4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
04 Tellurite	Yafsoanite	Ca3Zn3(Te6+O6)2	isometric	m3m or 432	Ia3d or I4132
08 Arsenate	Berzeliite	NaCa2Mg2(AsO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
08 Vanadate	Palenzonaite	NaCa2Mn2+2(VO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
08 Vanadate	Schäferite	NaCa2Mg2(VO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d

• IMA/CNMNC - Nickel-Strunz - Mineral subclass: 09.A Nesosilicate
  • Nickel-Strunz classification: 09.AD.25

Mineral name	Formula	Crystal system	Point group	Space group
Almandine	Fe2+3Al2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Andradite	Ca3Fe3+2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Calderite	Mn+23Fe+32(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Goldmanite	Ca3V3+2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Grossular	Ca3Al2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Henritermierite	Ca3Mn3+2(SiO4)2(OH)4	tetragonal	4/mmm	I41/acd
Hibschite	Ca3Al2(SiO4)(3-x)(OH)4x (x= 0.2-1.5)	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Katoite	Ca3Al2(SiO4)(3-x)(OH)4x (x= 1.5-3)	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Kerimasite	Ca3Zr2(Fe+32Si)O12	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Kimzeyite	Ca3(Zr,Ti)2(Si,Al,Fe3+)3O12	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Knorringite	Mg3Cr2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Majorite	Mg3(Fe2+Si)(SiO4)3	tetragonal	4/m or 4/mmm	I41/a or I41/acd
Momoite	(Mn2+,Ca)3(V3+,Al)2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Morimotoite	Ca3(Ti,Fe2+,Fe3+)2(Si,Fe3+)3O12	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Pyrope	Mg3Al2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Schorlomite	Ca3(Ti4+,Fe3+)2[(Si,Fe3+)O4]3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Spessartine	Mn2+3Al2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Toturite	Ca3Sn2Fe2SiO12	isometric	m3m	Ia3d
Uvarovite	Ca3Cr2(SiO4)3	isometric	m3m	Ia3d

• References: Mindat.org; mineral name, chemical formula and space group (American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database) of the IMA Database of Mineral Properties/ RRUFF Project, Univ. of Arizona, was preferred most of the time.

Synthetic garnets

The crystallographic structure of garnets has been expanded from the prototype to include chemicals with the general formula A₃B₂(C O₄)₃. Besides silicon, a large number of elements have been put on the C site, including Ge, Ga, Al, V and Fe.^[3]

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⁺), these YAl-garnets may be used as the lasing medium in lasers.

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 behaviour. YIG is a ferrimagnetic material having a Curie temperature of 550 K.

Another example is gadolinium gallium garnet, 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.

Geological importance of garnet

Garnet var. Spessartine, Putian City, Putian Prefecture, Fujian Province, China

The Garnet group is a key mineral in interpreting the genesis of many igneous and metamorphic rocks via geothermobarometry. Diffusion of elements is relatively slow in garnet compared to rates in many other minerals, and garnets are also relatively resistant to alteration. Hence, individual garnets commonly preserve compositional zonations that are used to interpret the temperature-time histories of the rocks in which they grew. Garnet grains that lack compositional zonation commonly are interpreted as having been homogenized by diffusion, and the inferred homogenization also has implications for the temperature-time history of the host rock.

Garnets are also useful in defining metamorphic facies of rocks. For instance, eclogite can be defined as a rock of basalt composition, but mainly consisting of garnet and omphacite. Pyrope-rich garnet is restricted to relatively high-pressure metamorphic rocks, such as those in the lower crust and in the Earth's mantle. Peridotite may contain plagioclase, or aluminium-rich spinel, or pyrope-rich garnet, and the presence of each of the three minerals defines a pressure-temperature range in which the mineral could equilibrate with olivine plus pyroxene: the three are listed in order of increasing pressure for stability of the peridotite mineral assemblage. Hence, garnet peridotite must have been formed at great depth in the earth. Xenoliths of garnet peridotite have been carried up from depths of 100 km and greater by kimberlite, and garnets from such disaggegated xenoliths are used as a kimberlite indicator minerals in diamond prospecting. At depths of about 300 to 400 km and greater, a pyroxene component is dissolved in garnet, by the substitution of (Mg,Fe) plus Si for 2Al in the octahedral (Y) site in the garnet structure, creating unusually silica-rich garnets that have solid solution towards majorite. Such silica-rich garnets have been identified as inclusions within diamonds.

The largest documented garnet single crystal was an isometric block measuring ~2.3 m and weighing ~37.5 tons.^[4] The news on larger garnet crystals found near Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia have not been confirmed.

Uses of garnets

8th (?) century Anglo-Saxon sword hilt fitting, gold with gemstone inlay of garnet cloisonné. From the Staffordshire Hoard, found in 2009, and not fully cleaned.

Pendant in uvarovite, a rare bright-green garnet.

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 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.

Pure crystals of garnet are still used as gemstones. The gemstone varieties occur in shades of green, red, yellow and orange.^[5] In the USA it is known as the birthstone for January.^[1] It is the state mineral of Connecticut,^[6] New York's gemstone,^[7] and star garnet (garnet with rutile asterisms) is the state gemstone of Idaho.^[8]

Industrial uses

Garnet sand is a good abrasive, and a common replacement for silica sand in sand blasting. Alluvial garnet grains which are rounder are more suitable for such blasting treatments. Mixed with very high pressure water, garnet is used to cut steel and other materials in water jets. For water jet cutting, garnet extracted from hard rock is suitable since it is more angular in form, therefore more efficient in cutting.

Garnet paper is favored by cabinetmakers for finishing bare wood.^[9]

Garnet sand is also used for water filtration media.

As an abrasive garnet can be broadly divided in two categories, blasting grade and water jet grade. The garnet, as it is mined and collected, is crushed to finer grains; all pieces which are larger than 60 mesh (250 micrometers) are normally used for sand blasting. The pieces between 60 mesh (250 micrometers) and 200 mesh (74 micrometers) are normally used for water jet cutting. The remaining garnet pieces that are finer than 200 mesh (74 micrometers) are used for glass polishing and lapping. Regardless of the application, the larger grain sizes are used for faster work and the smaller ones are used for finer finishes.

There are different kinds of abrasive garnets which can be divided based on their origin. The largest source of abrasive garnet today is garnet rich beach sand which is quite abundant on Indian and Australian coasts and the main producers today are seen to be Australia and India.^[10]

This material is particularly popular due to its consistent supplies, huge quantities and clean material. The common problems with this material are the presence of ilmenite and chloride compounds. Since the material is being naturally crushed and ground on the beaches for past centuries, the material is normally available in fine sizes only. Most of the garnet at the Tuticorin beach is 80 mesh, and ranges from 56 mesh to 100 mesh size.^{[citation needed]}

River garnet is particularly abundant in Australia. The river sand garnet occurs as a placer deposit.^{[citation needed]}

Rock garnet is perhaps the garnet type used for the longest period of time. This type of garnet is produced in America, China and western India. These crystals are crushed in mills and then purified by wind blowing, magnetic separation, sieving and, if required, washing. Being freshly crushed, this garnet has the sharpest edges and therefore performs far better than other kinds of garnet. Both the river and the beach garnet suffer from the tumbling effect of hundreds of thousands of years which rounds off the edges.

Garnet has been mined in western Rajasthan for the past 200 years, but mainly for the gemstone grade stones. Abrasive garnet was mainly mined as a secondary product while mining for gem garnets and was used as lapping and polishing media for the glass industries. The host rock of the garnet here is garnetiferous mica schist and the total percentage of garnet is not more than 7% to 10%,^{[citation needed]} which makes the material extremely costly and non economical to extract for non-gemstone applications.

See also

• Campbell R. Bridges
• Abrasive blasting

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Gemological Institute of America, GIA Gem Reference Guide 1995, ISBN 0-87311-019-6
2. ^ Smyth, Joe. "Mineral Structure Data". Garnet. University of Colorado. http://ruby.colorado.edu/~smyth/min/garnet.html. Retrieved 2007-01-12. 
3. ^ S. Geller Crystal chemistry of the garnets Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, 125, S. 1-47 (1967)
4. ^ P. C. Rickwood (1981). "The largest crystals". American Mineralogist 66: 885–907. http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM66/AM66_885.pdf. 
5. ^ Geological Sciences at University of Texas, Austin
6. ^ State of Connecticut, Sites º Seals º Symbols; Connecticut State Register & Manual; retrieved on December 20, 2008
7. ^ New York State Gem; State Symbols USA; retrieved on October 12, 2007
8. ^ Idaho state symbols
9. ^ Joyce, Ernest (1987) [1970]. Peters, Alan. ed. The Technique of Furniture Making (4th ed.). London: Batsford. ISBN 0 7134 4407. 
10. ^ Briggs, J. (2007). The Abrasives Industry in Europe and North America. Materials Technology Publications. ISBN 1-871677-52-1. 

Further reading

• Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., Wiley, ISBN 0-471-80580-7
• Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones ISBN 0-442-20333-0

External links

• USGS Garnet locations - USA
• http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/garnet.html
• http://www.mindat.org/min-10272.html
• Mineral Information Institute Garnet