Volyn pegmatite field (Khoroshiv, formerly Volodarsk-Volynskii)
50.5956° N, 28.4447° E · ± 10 km
Beryl from Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine, with photos of specimens from this locality.
Minerals found here
Beryl at Volyn pegmatite field (Khoroshiv, formerly Volodarsk-Volynskii)
Etch pits on prism and basal faces are a diagnostic feature of Volyn heliodor and green beryl.
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
- Formula
- Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈
- Morphology
- Columnar prismatic crystals, often strongly etched and sculptured
- Typical size
- Gem crystals commonly several cm; exceptional crystals up to about 140 cm
- Color / luster
- Yellow-green heliodor to green; transparent, vitreous
- Associated minerals
- Topazsmoky quartzalbitemicamicroclinefluoritephenakitebertrandite
- Surface features
- Rectangular etch pits on prism faces and hexagonal etch pits on basal faces
- Trace elements
- Fe (yellow from O-Fe3+ charge transfer); Cr and V absent
- Availability
- Commonly available
- History
- Mining since 1931 for quartz and topaz, with beryl recovered as a by-product; heliodor reached Western Europe in 1980 and Tucson in 1987
Geology of the locality
- Setting
- Chamber pegmatites in the contact zone between granites and gabbro-anorthosite of the Proterozoic Korosten plutonic complex, at the western margin of the pluton; country rocks are migmatitic gneisses
- Host rock
- Granite pegmatite
- Region
- Zhytomyr Oblast
- Country
- Ukraine
Coordinates are those of the town of Khoroshiv from Wikipedia; the pegmatite field lies near the town. Mined first for piezoelectric quartz, later for topaz and beryl.
Sources
- SRC-692 · Website
KhoroshivWikipedia contributors · Wikipedia - SRC-693 · Article
Etch Pits in Heliodor and Green Beryl from the Volyn Pegmatites, Northwest Ukraine: A Diagnostic FeatureFranz, G.; Vyshnevskyi, O.A.; Khomenko, V.M.; Lyckberg, P.; Gernert, U. · 2023 · Gems & Gemology 59(3), GIA - SRC-691 · Website
File:Beryl-250336.jpgRobert M. Lavinsky · Wikimedia Commons - SRC-718 · Website
Volyn DepositWikipedia contributors · Wikipedia - SRC-719 · Website
File:Beryl-tuc8-130a.jpgRobert M. Lavinsky · Wikimedia Commons (dealer label)
Draft data from the Provenite workbook. Check entries against the cited sources before relying on them. Photos are open-licence images from Wikimedia Commons; the author and licence are given with each photo.