Dark-coloured Mn-rich overgrowths in an elbaitic tourmaline crystal from the Rosina pegmatite, San Piero in Campo, Elba Island, Italy: witness of late-stage opening of the geochemical system

Multicoloured tourmalines from Elba Island, commonly display dark-coloured terminations due to incorporation of Fe, and also occasionally Mn. The mechanisms which led to the availability of these elements in the late-stage residual fluids are not yet completely understood. For this purpose, we investigated a representative tourmaline crystal found naturally in two fragments within a wide miarolitic cavity in the Rosina pegmatite (San Piero in Campo, Elba Island, Italy), and characterised by late-stage dark-coloured overgrowths. Microstructural and paragenetic observations, together with compositional and spectroscopic data (electron microprobe and optical absorption spectroscopy), provide evidence which shows that the formation of the dark-coloured Mn-rich overgrowths are the result of a pocket rupture. This event caused alteration of the cavity-coating spessartine garnet by highly-reactive late-stage cavity fluids by leaching processes, with the subsequent release of Mn to the residual fluids. We argue that the two fragments were originally a single crystal, which underwent natural breakage followed by the simultaneous growth of Mn-rich dark terminations at both breakage surfaces. This conclusion supports the evidence for a pocket rupture event, responsible for both the shattering of the tourmaline crystal and the compositional variation of the cavity-fluids related to the availability of Mn, which was incorporated by the tourmaline crystals. Additionally, a comparison of the dark overgrowths formed at the analogous and the antilogous poles, provides information on tourmaline crystallisation at the two different poles. The antilogous pole is characterised by a higher affinity for Ca, F and Ti, and a selective uptake of Mn2+, even in the presence of a considerable amount of Mn3+ in the system. This uneven uptake of Mn ions resulted in the yellow-orange colouration of the antilogous overgrowth (Mn2+ dependent) rather than the purple-reddish colour of the analogous overgrowths (Mn3+ dependent).

Automated summary

A study on tourmaline crystals from Elba Island reveals that the dark-coloured Mn-rich overgrowths on the crystals are the result of a pocket rupture. This rupture caused the leaching of spessartine garnet coating the cavity, releasing Mn into the residual fluids. The study also suggests that the crystals underwent natural breakage, followed by simultaneous growth of Mn-rich dark terminations at the breakage surfaces.