Published September 1992
| public
Journal Article
Unstable Radiation-Induced Yellow-Green Color in Grossular Garnet
Abstract
Although conventional wisdom has been that irradiation will not alter the color of garnets, exposure of some colorless to pale-hued African grossulars to either ^(60)Co or ^(137) Cs gamma rays turns them light yellow-green. The resulting color is unstable and fades within hours to days in sunlight, and within weeks in the dark. The spectra of the radiation-enhanced garnets differ from those of similar-appearing naturally colored grossulars. In the dark, the irradiation-related absorption features undergo two stages of fading: an initial period of relatively rapid fading, followed by a longer period of slow fading. In daylight, a single rate of even faster fading is observed.
Additional Information
© 1992 Gemological Institute of America. The authors are grateful to the following for supplying material for this study: Gene Dente of the Serengeti Co., San Diego, California, on whose specimens this phenomenon was first observed; Peter Flusser of Overland Gems, Los Angeles, California; H. Lind Edelsteinschleiferei, Idar-Oberstein, Germany; The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and the Gemological Institute of America, Santa Monica, California.Additional details
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- CaltechAUTHORS:20130607-111032586
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2013-06-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field
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- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences