Forsterite

specimen number:
2292293

location:
Sapat Gali, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

description:
Choice lustrous translucent green crystal grouping of forsterite, this is the variety known as peridot. In great condition.

The Sapat Gali area, located at high altitudes between 4000 and 5000 meters in the Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, is a major global source of gem peridot. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Sapat mafic-ultramafic complex along the Indus suture zone at the tectonic base of the Kohistan magmatic arc. The peridot occurs in veins and pockets within sheared, partially serpentinized dunite and harzburgite host rocks, where low-iron, magnesium-rich olivine formed brilliant green crystals. Gem-quality material was discovered here around 1992, and commercial open-cut and shallow underground mining operations expanded rapidly throughout the mid-1990s. Because of the extreme Himalayan terrain and severe winter weather, extraction has historically been limited to a strictly seasonal summer operation, with production from these high-altitude trenches continuing to supply the international gemstone market into the 2020s.

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