A Research of Emeralds from Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan

Abstract

In recent years, emeralds from the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan have taken a large share of the market, with high-quality emeralds comparable to Colombian emeralds. In order to meet the market demand for tracing the origin of emeralds, 20 emeralds from the region were tested using conventional gemology, laser Raman spectroscopy, Fourier infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectroscopy, and laser ablation plasma-mass spectrometry. The results show that the contents of the samples are mainly serrated three-phase inclusions, which are similar to those of Colombian emeralds. There are multiple solid inclusions and two liquids in the serrated voids. The main coloring elements of the sample are chromium and vanadium. The alkali metal content is moderate, among which rubidium (average content: 25.72 ppm) and cesium (average content: 33.15 ppm) content is lower. The near-infrared spectrum reveals that the absorption characteristic was dominated by type I water. A chemical composition analysis indicates that the chemical composition of Panjshir emeralds is similar to that of the emeralds of Davdar Township in China and Coscuez in Colombia, but they could be distinguished by an Na-Sc and Rb-Ga diagram.

Keywords

• emerald
• Panjshir Valley
• gemological characteristics
• origin traceability