Garnet
| Category |
| Garnet |
| Crystal Form |
| Cubic |
| Moh's Scale Hardness |
| 6.50–7.50 |
| Specific Gravity |
| 3.49–4.16 |
| Refractive Index |
| 1.69–1.89 |
| Sources |
| Argentina, Brazil, Germany, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Namibia, Pakistan, Russia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania. |
Garnets are durable, beautiful and comes in variety of different colours, including pink, purple, orange, yellow, violet, colourless, brown and many different shades of red and green. The most common colour of garnets is reddish brown.
Inclusions
Rutile inclusions are common in garnets.
Types of Garnets
Pyrope
Pyrope are deep/dark red in colour. Its name is derived from Greek, meaning fiery. This type of garnet was very popular in the 18th and 19th century, especially "Bohemian". Deposits are found in Burma (Myanmar, China, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tanzania and United States.
Almandite
Almandite are deep red to violet-red in colour. Occasional asterism occurs. Deposits are found in Brazil, India, Madagascar, Sri Lank and United States.
Rhodolite
Rhodolite are bright purplish red or rose in colour. Its composition is between pyrope and almandite garnets.
Spessartite
Spessartite garnet are orange to reddish brown in colour. It can be found in Burma (Myanmar), Brazil, China, Kenya, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and United States.
Grossularite
Grossular garnet occurs in green, yellow, brown or colourless in colour. It name is derived from Latin, meaning gooseberry. Deposits can be found in Canada, Kenya, Mali, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tanzania, Vermont.
Andradite
Andradite is named after a Portuguese mineralogist). Andradite varieties occurs in black, brown, yellow-brown in colour.