Intrigued by the idea of finding a bit of bling in plain sight? Here are five public dig sites worth rolling up your sleeves for:. The stone is known for its high chromium content, which gives it a lime-green hue, and forms in the hydrothermal veins of rocks.
Visitors to the mine are equipped with a shovel, a pickaxe and a bucket and can hunt for emeralds, hiddenite, quartz and 60 other gems and minerals at its seven-acre dig site. A visit to most state parks includes a hike or a bit of fly fishing. But Crater of Diamonds State Park brings something different to the table: some serious bling. Located about miles southwest of Little Rock on the site of a volcanic crater, the park is a hotbed of buried diamonds crystallized from carbon, which formed in the earth's mantle billions of years ago and were thrust to the surface by the crater's explosion.
In June , one lucky visitor unearthed an 8. The one-and-a-half mile Jade Cove Trail is a popular spot for jade hunters searching for the greenish-hued gemstone, which forms due to subduction or when oceanic and continental plates collide.
Because the trail is part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released strict guidelines for jade hunting, but as long as specimens are in plain sight, rockhounds are welcome to pocket them. The region is also home to the annual Big Sur Jade Festival. This year, due to the Soberanes forest fire, the event has been rescheduled for the spring.
During World War II, Morefield Mine , located just outside of Richmond, Virginia, was used by military suppliers in search of strategic minerals like mica, beryl and tantalum for use in tanks and artillery. Located feet under ground and stretching 2, feet in length, the mine is always growing and changing. The area formed more than million years ago when magma pushed from the center of the earth to the surface and cooled, leaving behind massive deposits of minerals.
The mine owners periodically use explosives to blast the cave and open up new areas for visitors to explore. Several times each year, the caretakers of Graves Mountain , located about miles east of Atlanta, invite visitors to dig for buried treasure at this site, which formed millions of years ago when sedimentary rocks metamorphosed. Skip to content GIA Aquamarine Map Aquamarine , the blue-green variety of the mineral beryl, is the gemstone traditionally considered the birthstone of March.
This area is famous for yielding beautiful aquas and tourmaline. Zambia — Zambia is a source of aquamarines as well as another beryl, emerald. Mozambique — Aquamarines found in Mozambique are known for their rare deep, rich blue color.
Madagascar — A large number of gemstones are found in Madagascar, with aquamarine being one of the most abundant. Vietnam — In recent history, aquamarine sources have been discovered in Vietnam. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
These include aquamarine , amazonite, garnet , topaz , tourmaline , lapis lazuli , quartz , smoky quartz , rhodochrosite , rose quartz, amethyst , turquoise , peridot , sapphire , zircon , agate, and jasper.
A rough diamond from Colorado was cut into a It is the largest cut diamond ever produced from United States rough. Aquamarine is the state gemstone of Colorado, and it is mostly found at high elevations on Antero Mountain. Rhodochrosite is the state mineral, and many specimens are cut into gemstones such as the stone shown here from the Sweet Home Mine. Learn more about Colorado Gemstones. The most popular gemstone locality in Arkansas is Crater of Diamonds State Park , where anyone can pay a fee, look for diamonds , and keep any that are found.
The site is an operating state park, and visitors usually find hundreds of small diamonds every year. There are several other fee mining areas in the state where you can pay a fee, look for minerals and keep what you find. Arkansas's most important gem material is quartz.
In Arkansas, clear quartz is often called "rock crystal. Exceptional specimens of rock crystal can sell for thousands of dollars. Clear, undamaged single crystals are made into pendants, earrings and other types of jewelry. In addition to rock crystal, Arkansas produces other quartz gems including agate, chert , jasper, opal , petrified wood , and smoky quartz frequently heat-treated rock crystal. Learn more about Arkansas Gemstones.
Idaho's nickname is "The Gem State. The most important gems produced to date have been star garnet and opal. Notable amounts of jade , topaz , zircon , and tourmaline have also been found in Idaho. Agate, jasper, and petrified wood in many colors and patterns have been found and produced from small deposits throughout the state. The first commercial gemstone mine in the United States that was operated by miners who were not Native Americans was at Mount Mica, Maine.
There a large deposit of tourmaline was discovered by children in Two years later a mine was opened and it yielded thousands of carats of gem-quality tourmaline crystals. Since then the pegmatite deposits of western Maine have produced many varieties of tourmaline, aquamarine , morganite , smoky quartz, rose quartz, and amethyst. The three stones in the photo are very nice tourmalines from the Dunton Quarry, located in Oxford County.
Most people would not think of Louisiana as a "gemstone state. Learn more about Louisiana Gemstones. A variety of gemstones have been found in Nevada, and the state is well-known for its opal. After Australia, some of the finest black opals in the world come from Virgin Valley, Nevada. The specimen shown here is a 9-millimeter faceted yellow fire opal of about 1. The state is also well-known for its turquoise , petrified wood , agate, jasper, and obsidian. Learn more about Nevada Gemstones.
Did You Know? If you attend the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show held every February , you can purchase rough or cut stones from most of the important gemstone mines in the United States - and often purchase directly from the person who did the mining. Don't be afraid to ask - they usually enjoy telling you all about their operation. Sometimes the same person mines, cuts, and markets the stones! Cryptocrystalline quartz includes: agate, carnelian, chalcedony, chrysoprase, fossilized wood, heliotrope, jasper, moss agate, onyx, and sard.
ND: Value not disclosed because it would reveal proprietary information of a small number of producers. Find Other Topics on Geology. Maps Volcanoes World Maps. A Diversity of U. Gemstones Gemstones Produced in the U.
Patronage for Domestic Gemstones. Gemstone Production Values in Thousands of Dollars. Macrocrystalline quartz includes: amethyst, aventurine, blue quartz, citrine, hawk's eye, quartz, cat's eye, rock crystal, rose quartz, smoky quartz, and tiger's-eye. Maine unranked. Louisiana unranked. Nevada unranked. Ethiopian Opal.
Fire Opal.
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