In mother nature the formation of emeralds starts with a growth of an emerald crystal one molecule by one molecule. Emeralds are natural gemstone crystals. An emerald’s crystals form into a matrix of crystals when the physical environment is ideal. Emerald crystal formation takes both adequate formation time and required open area to provide the space need for the emerald crystal to grow. Geological moments in time that happened many millions of years ago caused the formation of natural emeralds found by miners now.
Hydrothermal veins with natural elements needed to form emeralds down inside the earth’s crust are where emerald crystals are formed. The earth’s crust vents hydrothermal fluids which form hydrothermal veins.
The fluids in these hydrothermal veins may hold the required levels of natural elements need to grow emerald crystals. When this occurs and the physical setting is ideal, as the hydrothermal fluids temperatures lower, emerald crystals may grow in the hydrothermal veins with fracturing, which gives them space to grow. Virtually all emeralds are found in the country of Columbia and are formed as described above. Columbian Emeralds formed by the hydrothermal process are also found in hydrothermal veins containing deposits of calcite.
Emeralds are also formed in pegmatite deposits. The main agent in hydrothermal veins is super-heated water and the main agent in pegmatites is magma. In pegmatites, when magma temperature begins to go down, if conditions are right, agents stay in an ideal solution in the leftover liquid material that form emerald crystals.
Emeralds with well faceted emerald gemstones is due to the fact the conditions must be ideal for emerald crystals to form, which is a rare occurrence and hard to find for emerald miners.
