Pyrope

specimen number:
2262252

location:
Navajo Co., Arizona, USA

description:
A vial partially filled with translucent deep red crystals of a group these are often called anthill garnets. The size provided is the size of the vial.

The Navajo County chrome-pyrope garnet deposits, centered primarily within the Garnet Ridge and Mule Ear volcanic fields of the Navajo Nation in far northern Arizona, represent a world-famous locality celebrated for producing exceptionally clear, deep red gemstones colloquially known as ant hill garnets. Geologically, these unique gems did not form in the immediate surface sands but originated deep within the Earth's upper mantle as a major component of garnet peridotite rocks. During the Oligocene epoch, violent, gas-rich diatreme explosions blasted kimberlitic and lamproitic tuffs and breccias upward through the thick sedimentary layers of the Colorado Plateau, tearing off fragments of the mantle and scattering the resistant garnet crystals throughout the volcanic matrix. Over millions of years, intense desert weathering broke down the soft volcanic tuff, concentrating the durable, chromium-rich pyrope garnets into localized surface gravels where harvester ants naturally mine the tiny, deep red grains, bringing them to the surface to construct the outer crusts of their nests. Historically, these vibrant gems were gathered and utilized by native Navajo peoples for trade and ceremonial purposes long before Western documentation. Small-scale artisanal gathering and minor commercial sorting of the surface gravels commenced following regional geological surveys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with independent tribal members periodically hand-harvesting and sieving the ant hills through the mid-to-late 20th century to supply the global gemstone and mineral market with high-luster faceting rough.

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