Amazonite

Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence. In Bronze Age Egypt, it was mined in the southern Eastern Desert at Gebel Migif. In early modern times, it was obtained almost exclusively from the area of Miass in the Ilmensky Mountains, southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. China: • Baishitouquan granite intrusion, Hami Prefecture, Xinjiang: found in granite Libya: • Jabal Eghei, Tibesti Mountains: found in granitic rocks Mongolia: • Avdar Massif, Töv Province: found in alkali granite • Khâi-Ma, Northern Cape United States: • Colorado: • Deer Trail, Arapahoe County • Rutherford Mine, Amelia County • Pennsylvania: • Media, Delaware County:244 • Middletown, Delaware County:244 == Color ==

For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery. A 1985 study suggests that the blue-green color results from quantities of lead and water in the feldspar. Other studies suggest the colors are associated with the increasing content of lead, rubidium, and thallium ranging in amounts between 0.00X and 0.0X in the feldspars, with even extremely high contents of PbO, lead monoxide, (1% or more) known from the literature. A 2010 study also implicated the role of divalent iron in the green coloration. These studies and associated hypotheses indicate the complex nature of the color in amazonite; in other words, the color may be the aggregate effect of several mutually inclusive and necessary factors. == Health ==

A 2021 study by the German Institut für Edelsteinprüfung (EPI) found that the amount of lead ions that leaked from an sample of amazonite into an acidic solution simulating saliva exceeded European Union standard DIN EN 71-3:2013's recommended amount by five times. This experiment was to simulate a child swallowing amazonite, and could also apply to "crystal healing" practices such as inserting the mineral into drinking water bottles. == Gallery ==

File:Microcline-Quartz-Albite-48224.jpg|Deep robins-egg blue color amazonite crystal on smoky quartz and albite, from Teller County, Colorado. Size: . File:Amazonite, quartz 300-3-7927.JPG|Amazonite crystal on smoky quartz, from Pikes Peak, El Paso County, Colorado File:Microcline-179612.jpg|Large deep-turquoise amazonite crystal with attached stark-white microcline, from Konso, SNNPR, Ethiopia. Size: . File:Microcline-Quartz-206935.jpg|Two smoky quartz crystals surrounded by amazonite crystals, from Smoky Hawk Mine, Crystal Peak, Teller County, Colorado. Size: . File:Amazonite 1.jpg|Amazonite crystals on orthoclase, from Konso, SNNPR, Ethiopia. File:Microcline-20436.jpg|Deep lustrous crystal of amazonite, from Take 5 Claim, Crystal Peak, Teller County, Colorado. Size: . File:Landsverk-1 amazonite+ordførerkjede.jpg|Amazonite from the Landsverk 1 mine with the livery collar of the mayor of Evje, Norway. Size: . File:LANDSVERK-1 mikroklien-verdringt-amazoniet.jpg|Amazonite partly altered to brown microcline from the Landsverk 1 mine in Evje, Norway. File:Amazonite specimen (polished) arp.jpg|Polished Amazonite specimen. Height . == References ==