Elbaite Tourmaline

Stak Nala, in the Haramosh Mountains of Pakistan, has become famous for its excellent colour-zoned Tourmalines, hosted in miarolitic granite pegmatites.  Miarolitic cavities form in granite bodies because of the concentration of remnant volatiles (water and gas) forming pockets within the final stages of solidification of the magma melt.  This beautiful small miniature Elbaite Tourmaline measures 3.5 cm tall and grades from colourless to electric lime-green, bottle-green, lime-green, deep leaf-green, delicate pink tinged-colourless ending with a final blush to coral-pink termination.  The termination is formed by an asymmetric trigonal pyramid with mirror-smooth faces and a bright glassy lustre.  The prism faces are vertically striated and have two small protrusions of off-cream Albite Feldspar. A delightful Elbaite Tourmaline from Stak Nala.