Fluor-Elbaite

specimen number:
2282047

location:
Himalaya Mine, San Diego Co., California, USA

description:
A loose light pink gemmy single crystal. In good condition.

The Himalaya mine, located in the Mesa Grande district of San Diego County, California, is a historic granitic pegmatite deposit celebrated for its production of gem-quality tourmaline. Geologically, the deposit consists of a thin, remarkably continuous dike system of late Cretaceous age that intruded local gabbroic host rocks. The pegmatite features highly evolved asymmetric zoning, with a central pocket zone containing extensive miarolitic cavities filled with exceptional crystals of bicolored pink and green tourmaline, lepidolite, cleavelandite, and quartz. Discovered in 1898 by native residents and formally located by J.L. Tannenbaum soon after, the mine experienced its principal boom period between 1902 and 1912, largely fueled by the high demand for pink tourmaline from the Chinese Imperial Court. Following a long period of dormancy and sporadic small-scale leasing, the mine was actively worked again for specimen reclamation from the late 1970s through the late 1990s, and it continues to be utilized today for fee-digging tourism and intermittent seasonal exploration.

Fluor-elbaite is a sodium lithium aluminum borosilicate mineral that belongs to the highly complex tourmaline supergroup. Geologically, it forms as a primary mineral during the late-stage crystallization of highly fractionated, lithium-rich granitic pegmatites, developing within specialized pocket zones where volatile elements like fluorine and boron are heavily concentrated. The mineral typically exhibits an elongated prismatic crystal habit with vertical striations, often displaying spectacular color zoning that shifts from deep greens and blues to vibrant pinks along a single crystal shaft. It is distinguished from standard elbaite by the chemical dominance of fluorine over hydroxyl molecules in its crystal structure, a characteristic that reflects the highly evolved fluid chemistry of its parent pegmatite environment.

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