OCCURRENCE IN THE URALS 



321 



BERYL (AQUAMARINE) 



The finest bervl to be found in tlio Urals occurs in the neighbourhood of Mursinka. 

 It is usually in transparent, well-developed hexagonal prisms, which may be wine-yellow, 

 greenish-yellow, yellowish-green, bluish-green, or pale blue in colour, and which range m 

 ilength from a few millimetres to three decimetres (1 foot). The crystals are, as a rule, 

 single, but intergrowths are occasionally met with in which the crystals are arranged 

 irregularly or in parallel position. A group of fine yellowish-green or asparagus-green 

 crystals, perfectly transparent and grown together in parallel position, was found in 1828. 

 The group, which measures 27 centimetres in length and 31-2 centimetres in circumference, 

 is now in the collection of the Imperial 

 Institute of Mines at ISt. Petersburg, and 

 has been valued at 43,000 roubles (£6800). 

 The cavities in the rock, to the walls of 

 which the crystals are attached, are usually 

 filled witli brown clay, and the presence of 

 this substance is considered to indicate that 

 beryl is to be found not far away. Asso- 

 ciated with the beryl are quartz, felspar, 

 mica, and black tourmaline, also topaz and 

 amethyst, of which more will be said later. 

 There are numerous pits or mines from which 

 these variously coloured stones are won. For 

 the most part the stones are worked in the 

 gem-cutting establishments of Ekaterinburg. 

 Formerly all the mines clustered round the 

 village of Mursinka, but later other mines 

 were opened in the neighbourhood of the 

 villages of Alabaslika, Sisikova, Yushakova, 

 Sarapulskaya, and others, the population of 

 which consists almost exclusively of gem- 

 seekers. The beryls of Shaitanka were known 

 as far back as the year 1815 ; they are all 

 colourless or of a pale rose shade, and 

 therefore of less importance as gem-stones. 

 Magnificent specimens from this and other localities are to be seen and admired in all 

 mineral collections. The position of the mines in the neighbourhood of Mursinka is shown in 

 the accompanying map (Fig. 63a), of which more will be said when amethyst is dealt with. 



The pale apple-green beryls which accompany the emerald at Takovaya are of less 

 value. Those found on the Ilmen Lake also are only in part of gem-quality. They occur 

 on the eastern shores of this lake, six versts (four miles) north-east of the smelting works of 

 Miask in the Ilmen Mountains, and to the south of Ekaterinburg, in the Zlatoust mining 

 district, latitude about 55° N. Crystals of beryl from this locality sometimes reach a 

 length of 25 centimetres; they are bluish-green inclining to leek-green in colour, 

 much fissured, and, as a rule, only translucent. They occur, together with topaz crystals, 

 also fissured, and green felspar (amazon-stone), in pegmatite veins penetrating the rock 

 known as miascite. 



The occurrence of beryl in the gold-washings of the Sanarka river in the Southern 

 Urals is also of small importance ; here the mineral is found as pebbles associated with topaz, 

 chrysoberyl, &c. 



wxMLtits 



Fig. 63a. 



Occurrence of beryl near Mursinka, Urals. 

 (Scale, 1 : 125,000.) 



