Gems Of Sri Lanka
Gems Of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s gem industry features a very long and colorful history. Sri Lanka was affectionately referred to as Ratna-Dweepa which suggests Gem Island. The name may be a reflection of its natural wealth. Polo wrote that the island had the simplest sapphires, topazes, amethysts, and other gems within the world. Ptolemy, the 2nd century astronomer recorded that beryl and sapphire were the mainstay of Sri Lanka’s gem industry. Records from sailors that visited the island states that they brought back “jewels of Serendib”. Serendib was the traditional name given to the island by middle – eastern and Persian traders that crossed the Indian Ocean to trade gems from Sri Lanka to the East during the 4th and 5th century.
Sri Lanka, geologically speaking is a particularly fatherland . Ninety percent of the rocks of the island are of Precambrian age, 560 million to 2,400 million years ago. The gems form in sedimentary residual gem deposits, eluvial deposits, metamorphic deposits, skarn and calcium-rich rocks. Nearly all the gem formations in Sri Lanka are located within the central high-grade metamorphic terrain of the Highland Complex. The gem deposits are classified as sedimentary, metamorphic and magmatic; the sedimentary types being the foremost abundant. The mineralogy of the gem deposits varies widely with, among others, corundum (sapphire, ruby), chrysoberyl, beryl, spinel, topaz, zircon, tourmaline, garnet being common.
Residual deposits are mainly found flooding plains of rivers and streams. The metamorphic sorts of gems constitute 90% of the gem deposits in Sri Lanka . it's been estimated that almost 25% of the entire acreage of Sri Lanka is potentially gem-bearing, making Sri Lanka one among the countries with the very best density of gem deposits compared to its landmass.
Ratnapura contains the foremost gem deposits and derived its name from the gem industry. Ratnapura means “city of gems”.
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