Aquamarine

Aquamarine, the March birthstone, is a blue or turquoise variety of Beryl. It measures a hardness of 7.5-8 on the mohs scale.  The name “aquamarine” comes from the Latin aqua marina or “water of the sea”.

In the US, the gem hails from Colorado and Wyoming. There are mines in Brazil, Columbia, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya. The largest aquamarine of gemstone quality ever mined was found in Marambaia, Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1910 and weighed over 110kg.