A Mineral and Gemstone Paradise
Madagascar
The Treasure Island for Mineralogists and Collectors
The Red Island
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. Incredible riches of minerals and gemstones are distributed over the entire island. Madagascar developed out of active tectonic history with countless episodes of mineralization.
In this monograph Federico Pezzotta, a madagascar specialist and curator at the Natural History Museum of Milan, reports on the origins, distribution and production of the minerals and gemstones of Madagascar. He guides the reader through the island´s remote localities and sources of some of the "world´s best" for numerous mineral species.
Ores, Gold and Gemstones
The history of the search for minerals and gemstones in Madagascar
The Mineralogy of Madagascar
Literature, tradition and collections, a review of sources
Over 3.5 Billion Years Old
Rocks and Orea in Madagascar, a geologic overview; Gold from the oldest volcanoes; The Pan-African event, gemstones, ores and alpine veins; Karoo sediments; Sapphire from ancient volcanoes; The "Red Island"
Finds in Basic Skarns
The Bongolava shear zone; Giant crystals from skarns; The Betroka-Beraketa belt; Itrongay; Urano-thorianite, sapphire and zircons skarns
Rich Pegmatites
Formation; A new classification of Malagasy pegmatites; Great districts of Madagascars; Rhodizite, londonite and the Antsongombato Gem Mine
Alpine Veins
The Vohemar region; The titanite pocket of February 1998; The future of alpine veins in Madagascar
Amethyst and Other Quartz
Amethyst, smoky quartz and citrine, scepters, pineapples and fantastic inclusions
Celestite, Sapphire and Fossils
Treasures from Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments