Gemmological Characteristic of Emerald from Five Common Origins

In recent years, the demand of coloured gemstone origin tracing is increasing in the jewelry market. In this study, emerald samples from five common origins including Colombia, Brazil, Zambia, Afghanistan and Yunnan, China, were collected from the market to analysis their differences.The results show that the emerald samples from Colombia have higher Cr content. With its UV-Vis spectra and inclusion characteristics, it could be distinguished from the other origins; the typical inclusions in emerald samples from Afghanistan are elongate multiphase fluid inclusions, containing several daughter crystal and bubbles; the characteristics of inclusions and trace elements in emerald samples from Zambia and Brazil are mostly overlapped, the difference between these two origins is the content of Cs; the emerald samples from Yunnan, China, could be separated from those of other origins with its higher contents of V and Cs. The results show that these non-destructive methods could separate most emerald samples from these five origins effectively.