Is aquamarine a beryl?
Aquamarine is the green-blue to blue variety of beryl (GIA), hardness 7.5 to 8, SG 2.72. When the name fails: Brazilian, Siamese and white aquamarine.
Yes. GIA calls aquamarine the green-blue to blue variety of the mineral beryl, Be3Al2Si6O18: hardness 7.5 to 8, specific gravity 2.72, and the IMA list has a beryl row but none for aquamarine. The name fails twice: Brazilian aquamarine can be topaz and Siamese aquamarine is zircon; colourless white aquamarine is goshenite.
In short
- The definition. GIA calls aquamarine the green-blue to blue variety of the mineral beryl, usually a light pastel greenish blue, and lists it as beryl, Be3Al2Si6O18, refractive index 1.577 to 1.583, specific gravity 2.72, hardness 7.5 to 8.0. The International Gem Society says the colour comes from traces of ferrous iron.
- The two-condition rule. A stone is aquamarine only if it is beryl and its colour is green-blue to blue. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC Master List has one row for the species, Beryl, Be3Al2(Si6O18), and, by script, none for aquamarine or any other beryl colour name. The species is a test; the colour is a description.
- When it is not beryl. The International Gem Society’s list of misleading names, from Schumann, gives Brazilian aquamarine as blue-green topaz and Siamese aquamarine as blue zircon. A 20.00 g piece reads 12.40 to 13.27 g in water as beryl, 14.27 to 14.40 g as topaz and 15.65 to 15.74 g as zircon.
- When beryl is not aquamarine. Colourless “white aquamarine” is most likely goshenite, colourless beryl (International Gem Society). Emerald is the bluish green to green variety and morganite the pink to orange-pink one (GIA). GIA’s aquamarine and emerald descriptions meet at bluish green, and GIA says experts differ on where emerald begins.
- Treated is still aquamarine. GIA says heat usually makes it bluer; the International Gem Society says Maxixe, an irradiated deep blue beryl of the 1970s, was not colour-stable. Both pass condition 1. The identification tests, including the 1.60 line, are on how to tell if aquamarine is real.
| Name | What the source says it is | 1. Beryl? | 2. Green-blue to blue? | Aquamarine? | Index on the sheet; 20.00 g in water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquamarine | Green-blue to blue variety of beryl (GIA) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ω 1.567 to 1.610; 12.40 to 13.27 g (GIA 2.72: 12.65 g) |
| Santa Maria aquamarine | Medium-dark, saturated blue; named after the Santa Maria de Itabira mine (IGS) | Yes | Yes | Yes; the name is a colour, not proof of source (IGS) | As beryl |
| Madagascar aquamarine | Fine, medium blue (IGS) | Yes | Yes | Yes; colour term (IGS) | As beryl |
| Maxixe beryl, Maxixe aquamarine | Irradiated beryl, very dark blue, colour not stable; no pleochroism (IGS) | Yes | Yes, while it lasts | Treated beryl; IGS uses both names | As beryl |
| Brazilian aquamarine | Bluish green; also a misnomer for bluish green topaz (IGS aquamarine article); blue-green topaz (IGS list) | Not if topaz | Yes | Only if beryl | Topaz: 1.606 to 1.644; 14.27 to 14.40 g |
| Siamese aquamarine | Blue zircon (IGS list) | No | Yes | No | Zircon: ω 1.925 to 1.961; 15.65 to 15.74 g |
| White aquamarine | Most likely goshenite, colourless beryl (IGS) | Yes | No | No | As beryl |
| Emerald | Bluish green to green variety of beryl (GIA) | Yes | Only at the bluish green edge | No; GIA says experts differ on the green line | As beryl (GIA 2.72) |
| Morganite | Pink to orange-pink variety of beryl (GIA) | Yes | No | No | As beryl (GIA 2.80 to 2.91: 12.86 to 13.13 g) |
Is aquamarine a type of beryl? What GIA and the IMA list say
Aquamarine is a type of beryl: GIA calls it the green-blue to blue variety of the mineral beryl, the species that also includes emerald. GIA’s aquamarine page lists the mineral as beryl, Be3Al2Si6O18, colour greenish blue and light in tone, refractive index 1.577 to 1.583, birefringence 0.005 to 0.009, specific gravity 2.72 and Mohs hardness 7.5 to 8.0. Its description page says the colour is usually a light pastel greenish blue and that heat treatment usually gives a more bluish appearance.
The IMA test, by script. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC Master List was searched as text for exact row names. Beryl has a row, Be3Al2(Si6O18), status G, with the year printed as ? and the country as unknown. There is no row for aquamarine, emerald, morganite, goshenite, heliodor, bixbite or Maxixe. One row name contains the letters aqua: aqualite, a hydrated zirconium silicate with chlorine, unrelated to beryl. The beryl species page has the sheet’s formula, optics and localities.
What the sheet adds. The Handbook beryl sheet uses no variety names. Its colour field runs from colourless and white through pale blue to sky-blue and bluish green, green and yellow to rose and raspberry-red, and its pleochroism line gives O colourless, yellowish green, light blue or yellowish red, and E sea-green, blue or purplish red. Aquamarine is the blue and sea-green part of that range.
The two-condition rule: when the answer is yes
The two-condition rule: a stone is aquamarine only if it is the species beryl and its colour is green-blue to blue; the first is a test, the second a description. Condition 1 is settled by measurement: beryl is hexagonal and uniaxial negative, with hardness 7.5 to 8, density 2.63 to 2.97 and ω 1.567 to 1.610 on its sheet. Condition 2 is GIA’s colour definition, and GIA’s emerald and aquamarine descriptions meet at bluish green, so the colour boundary is a matter of judgement, not a number.
What colours it. The International Gem Society aquamarine article says aquamarine receives its colouring from trace amounts of ferrous iron, and that most aquamarines come out of the ground with a greenish tint that disappears after heating to 375 °C. Its beryl article says beryls, normally colourless, take on colours from trace elements such as chromium and iron. GIA attributes morganite’s pink to traces of manganese. The cause is the gem society’s statement; this page adds no mechanism.
Why treatment does not change the answer. Heated aquamarine is still beryl, and still green-blue to blue. Maxixe, which the gem society describes as an irradiated, very dark blue beryl whose colour was not stable, also passes condition 1; the gem society calls it both Maxixe aquamarine and Maxixe beryl, and says it shows no pleochroism. The dichroscope and refractometer checks are on how to tell if aquamarine is real, whose 1.60 line is not repeated here.
When aquamarine is not beryl: Brazilian and Siamese aquamarine
A name containing aquamarine can describe a colour on another mineral: the International Gem Society’s list of misleading names gives Brazilian aquamarine as blue-green topaz and Siamese aquamarine as blue zircon. The list, taken from Schumann’s Gemstones of the World, pairs each false name with the gemmological name. The gem society’s aquamarine article gives Brazilian aquamarine as bluish green and also a misnomer for bluish green topaz, so the same two words can mean beryl or topaz.
The weights, worked. As 20 − 20/D for a 20.00 g piece: beryl reads 12.40 to 13.27 g on its sheet’s 2.63 to 2.97, and 12.65 g at GIA’s 2.72. topaz, 3.49 to 3.57, reads 14.27 to 14.40 g, at least 1.00 g heavier than the heaviest beryl. Zircon, 4.6 to 4.7, reads 15.65 to 15.74 g; its sheet indices, ω 1.925 to 1.961, are 0.315 above beryl’s highest. The weighing method is on how to measure specific gravity at home.
Where the test needs care. A stone set in jewellery cannot be weighed alone. Glass and synthetic spinel, the other imitations, are treated on the identification page; spinel itself is on spinel. Synthetic aquamarine has beryl’s composition; the live identification page documents one whose index and density fall inside the natural ranges; that page cites the gem society for separation by professional laboratories.
When beryl is not aquamarine: goshenite, emerald, morganite
Beryl that is not green-blue to blue is not aquamarine, whatever the label says. The International Gem Society says stones sold as white aquamarines are most likely colourless beryls, also known as goshenites. GIA calls emerald the bluish green to green variety of beryl and morganite the pink to orange-pink variety; the gem society’s beryl article names heliodor as the golden variety and red beryl as the raspberry to deep rose red one.
The emerald edge. GIA’s emerald page says gem experts differ on the degree of green that makes one stone an emerald and another a green beryl, and that most call a stone green beryl when its colour is too light to be emerald. GIA’s aquamarine description calls emerald the green to bluish green variety; its emerald page says bluish green to green. A bluish green beryl sits where the two definitions meet, and both are beryl. Emerald look-alikes are on is dioptase the same as emerald.
Other beryl names. Chrysoberyl is a different species, not a beryl; the reasoning is on is chrysoberyl a beryl. Pink kunzite is spodumene, not morganite: is kunzite a beryl.
Where aquamarine comes from, per the beryl sheet
The beryl sheet names its fine-specimen localities without colour labels: the Mursinka-Alabashka area, Urals; Volhynia, Ukraine; Alto Ligonha, Mozambique; Mt. Bity, Madagascar; near Jos, Nigeria; Teófilo Otoni, Governador Valadares, Conselheiro Pena and Itabira in Minas Gerais, Brazil; Swat, Skardu and Hunza, Pakistan; the Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan; and Pala, California, among others. The International Gem Society’s Santa Maria aquamarine is named after the Santa Maria de Itabira mine, and the gem society warns that Santa Maria, Brazilian and Madagascar may only describe colour.
GIA says aquamarine is mined at high elevations in Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountains and that the largest gem-quality aquamarine crystal mined to date is 19 inches long. No British locality is on the beryl sheet.
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