Tourmaline Stone - Tourmaline Jewelry

The Tourmaline Stone

Tourmaline forms in igneous and metamorphic rocks and veins. It occurs with lepidolite, microcline, and spodumene in granite pegmatites; with andalusite and biotite in schist of regional metamorphic rocks; with siderite and quartz in hypothermal veins, and with molybdenite and cassiterite in massive hydrothermal replacement deposits. The hardness is between 7 and 7-1/2 and the streak is white.

The most famous deposits are in Sri Lanka, the Soviet Union (Urals), Afghanistan, Burma, California, Maine, Connecticut, Brazil, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

These gemstones are mounted or cut into faceted gems. Stones which are green-and-pink zoned, (pink in the center and green on the outside,) is referred to as Watermelon Tourmaline. The coloring is most pronounced when cut in "slices" perpendicular to the long axis of the crystal.

The name is from the Singhalese [touramalli], which means "mixed colored stones". The reference to Watermelon refers to the appearance of a "slice".

Because of it's dual coloring this stone is considered important in linking the upper and lower Chakras. It is associated with the Heart Chakra for this purpose.

It is also recommended as a "balancing" stone, because it contains opposite colors (green/red.) The Pink variety is the birth stone for the month of October.

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