Emerald the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, is the goddess Meenakshi, whose idol is traditionally thought to be made of emerald. Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (BeAl(SiO)) colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the Mohs scale. Most emeralds are highly included, so their toughness (resistance to breakage) is classified as generally poor. Emerald is a cyclosilicate. The word "emerald" is derived (via and ), from Vulgar Latin: "esmaralda"/"esmaraldus", a variant of Latin "smaragdus", which originated in (smaragdos; "green gem"). Emeralds, like all colored
Gemstone industry in Greenland gemstone ruby. The native inhabitants continued to assist the European explorers with their ruby exploration, leading them to some half dozen locations, spread out for over a hundred miles along the southwest shores of Greenland, known as the Kitaa Coast. Ruby and pink sapphire are the red and pink varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminum-oxide mineral Al2O3. The pink/red colour is formed in corundum by adding the element chromium to its crystal structure. Spectroscopy of rubies from the Aappaluttoq occurrence in Greenland confirm the presence of chromium as well as showing absorption in the UV region indicating high Fe