Micro-World Gems & Gemology, Spring 2025, Vol. 61, No. 1

Aquamarine with Fluorite Inclusions

Russell E. Behnke

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Figure 1. Twelve white octahedral fluorite crystals ranging from 5 to 10 mm across are visible inside this well-formed aquamarine crystal. Photo by Russell E. Behnke.
 
Figure 1. Twelve white octahedral fluorite crystals ranging from 5 to 10 mm across are visible inside this well-formed aquamarine crystal. Photo by Russell E. Behnke.

The specimen shown in figure 1, weighing 1418 ct and measuring approximately 77 × 55 × 45 mm, is a sharp, well-formed hexagonal light blue aquamarine crystal with attached muscovite crystals. The sample is from the well-known and highly productive Chumar Bakhoor mines of Pakistan’s Hunza Valley in the Nagar district of Gilgit-Baltistan. A dozen white octahedral fluorite inclusions, identified as such based on their shape, hardness, and polarized light response (confirmed isometric), are visible throughout the crystal (figure 2).

Figure 2. Close-up of three fluorite crystals in aquamarine. Photomicrograph by Harold Moritz; field of view 15 mm.
 
Figure 2. Close-up of three fluorite crystals in aquamarine. Photomicrograph by Harold Moritz; field of view 15 mm.

Considering the Chumar Bakhoor mines have been in operation for the last four decades, this is a surprisingly one-of-a-kind specimen. A literature search failed to turn up any other examples of fluorite inclusions in aquamarine.

Russell E. Behnke is a mineral dealer in Meriden, Connecticut.