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Unofficial Tourmaline World Records
Upper concentration limits of oxides or elements in tourmaline based on literature data and/or stoichiometry
 

Element	Concentration: Wt% Oxide or [ppm]	Rock type	Comment	Reference
H	3.85%		Stoichiometric amount in elbaite
He
Li	2.49%	pegmatite	Liddicoatite type material	Dunn et al. (1977)
Be	0.10%	-	-	Otroshchenko et al., (1971)
B	12.58% 11.15%	pegmatite	type olenite material (core) Stoichiometric amount in elbaite	Schreyer et al. (2002)
C
N
O
F	2.05%		Stoichiometric amount in F-elbaite
Ne
Na	3.30%		Stoichiometric amount in elbaite
Mg	16.57%		Stoichiometric amount in dravite
Al	46.43% 47.61%	Pegmatite -	Olenite Stoichiometric amount in olenite	Ertl (1995) -
Si	39.02%		Stoichiometric amount in rossmanite
P
S
Cl	0.024-0.102% 0.05-0.41%	Pegmatites to hydrothermal -	SW England -	Fuge and Power (1969) colorimetric analyses Neiva (1974)
Ar
K	2.35% 1.0-2.2%	Meta-evaporite Meta-evaporite	Povondraite locality Povondraite locality	Zacek et al. (1998) Grice et al., (1993)
Ca	5.50%	-	Uvite - Sri Lanka	Dunn et al. (1977) – e-probe
Sc	[170 ppm] [222 ppm]	- Pegmatite	- -	Conklin and Slack (1983) Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Ti	2.87% 3.07% 3.25% 3.48 4.07%	- mafic volcaniclastics tourmalinite meta-evaporite -	- - uvite + qtz + sill povondraite locality -	Grice and Ercit, (1993) Chaussidon and Appel (1997) Mittwede (1984) Zacek et al (1998) Lottermoser and Plimer (1987)
V	39.35% 8.5%	meta-calc-silicate Graphite schist	Qtz + Di + Cal + Tr + Tur Qtz + Ba-V-ms + bt + tur	Reznitsky et al. (2001) Foit and Rosenberg (1979)
Cr	22.85% 15.58% 13.90%	- Altered Ultramafic Chromitite	Orissa, India Cc + tur + tlc + qtz (+/- mt,py) Chromite + pargasite + tur	Dunn et al. (1977) Slack et al. (1999) – proton probe Michailidis et al. (1995)
Mn	8.86% 6.85% 6.72% 6.23% 5.94% 5.25% 4.34%	pegmatite pegmatite pegmatite pegmatite pegmatite Tremolite-talc amphibolite Tremolite-talc amphibolite	Elbaite-"tsilaisite" Elbaite + qtz "tsilaisite" Elbaite Elbaite Trem + tlc + tur + braunite Trem + tlc + tur + braunite	Shigley et al. (1986) Rossman and Mattson (1986) Nuber and Schmetzer (1984) Burns et al. (1994) Povondra et al. (1985) Ayoso et al (1984) e-probe Cotkin et al. (1989) e-probe
Fe	22.76% Fe2O3 20.04% Fe2O3	- Altered rhyolite	Stoichiometric amount in buergerite Buergerite	-Dunn (1976)
Co	1.25% [45 ppm] [22 ppm]	metabauxite Aplite -	Samos, Greece SW England -	Henry and Dutrow (2001 Power (1968) Neiva (1974)
Ni	3.53% 0.75% [1800 ppm or 0.23%]	metabauxite Calcareous rock/serp Altered Ultramafic (greenschist)	Samos, Greece Cal + qtz + tur + cr-mt Cal + tur + tlc + qtz (+/- mt,py)	Henry and Dutrow (2001) Jan et al., (1972) Griffin et al. (1996) – proton probe
Cu	2.38% 2.1% (or 16777 ppm)	Pegmatite pegmatite	Paraiba, Brazil Paraiba, Brazil	Fritsch et al. (1990) Henn et al., (1990)
Zn	[4156 ppm or 0.52%] 0.75% 1.24% 1.72% 1.88% 2.85%	Sulfide deposit metabauxite - pegmatite (internal intermediate) - pegmatite	With sphalerite Samos, Greece - ab + mu + qtz + spodumene - with amblygonite	Griffen et al., (1996) – proton probe Henry and Dutrow (2001) Grice and Ercit, (1993) Federico et al. (1998) Hawkins et al., (1995) Jedwab (1962)
Ga	[279 ppm] [305 ppm or 0.04%] [330 ppm] 0.11%	Pegmatite Granite Pegmatite -	- Mu + ab + chl Elbaite + amblygonite -	Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983) Griffen et al. (1996) – proton probe Keller et al. (1999) Dubinina and Kornilovich (1968)
Ge	[6 ppm] [75 ppm]	- Altered granite	- -	Neiva (1974) Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
As
Se
Br
Kr
Rb	[200 ppm or 0.02%] [260 ppm] 0.05% (or 457 ppm) [1246 ppm or 0.14%]	Altered granite pegmatite - pegmatite	- Qtz + ab + lepidolite + tur - Elbaite + amblygonite	Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983) Jolliff et al. (1986) Kulikov et al. (1976) Keller et al. (1999)
Sr	[1343 ppm or 0.16%] 0.34%	Tourmalinite -	- -	Griffen et al., (1996) – proton probe Peltola et al., (1968)
Y	[1380 ppm or 0.18%] [370 ppm or 0.05%] [550 ppm or 0.07%]	Cu ore Sulfide deposit Quartz vein	- Ccp + po + tur + mu + chl -	Slack et al. (1999) – probable contamination Griffin et al. (1996) – possible inclusions Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Zr	[340 ppm] [3140 ppm or 0.42%]	- Rhyolite lapilli tuff	- qtz + chl + ser + tur + ccp + po + py + sph	Conklin and Slack (1983) Slack et al. (1999) – proton probe
Nb	[229 ppm] [490 ppm] [1000 ppm]	granite Rhyolite breccia Altered grenites	- qtz + chl + tur + sph + py + ccp -	Neiva (1974) Slack et al. (1999) – probable contamination Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Mo	[10 ppm]	Diorite	-	Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Tc
Ru
Rh
Pd
Ag	[1.3 ppm] [3.5 ppm] [1546 ppm]	Quartz veins Granite tourmalinites	- - -	Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983) Jiang et al. (1997) Jiang et al. (1999)
Cd
In	[3.9 ppm] [5.0 ppm]	granite Pegmatite	- -	Neiva (1974) Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Sn	[4580 ppm or 0.58%] [746 ppm or 0.09%] [799 ppm] 0.03%	Rhyolite breccia Sulfide deposit Quartz vein -	Ser + chl + tur + qtz Sph + cal + gal + po + qtz + tur - -	Slack et al. (1999) – probable contamination Griffin et al., (1996) – possible contamination Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983) Nemec (1973)
Sb	[25 ppm]	Quartz veins	-	Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Te
I
Xe
Cs	0.08% 1.86%	- -	- -	Morgan and London (1987) Otroshchenko et al., (1971)
Ba	[690 ppm or 0.08%] [510 ppm or 0.06%] 1.71%	Cu ore Altered Ultramafic (greenschist) -	- Cc + tur + qtz (+/- mt,py) -	Slack et al. (1999) – proton probe Griffen et al. (1996) – proton probe Dubinina and Kornilovich (1968)
La	[249 ppm]	granite	-	Neiva (1974)
Ce	[87 ppm] [94.9 ppm]	- tourmalinite	- -	Jiang et al. (1999) Roda et al., (1995)
Pr	[107 ppm]	granite	-	Neiva (1974)
Nd	[36 ppm] [39 ppm]	- tourmalinite	- -	Jiang et al. (1999) Roda et al., (1995)
Pm
Sm	[14 ppm]	-	-	Neiva (1974)
Eu	[0.59 ppm]	Tur-bearing dike	-	Jiang et al. (1997)
Gd	[82 ppm]	granite	-	Neiva (1974)
Tb	[1.3 ppm] [0.5 ppm]	granite -	- -	Jiang et al. (1997) King et al., (1988)
Dy	[9.85 ppm] [4.5 ppm]	granite -	-	Jiang et al. (1997) King et al., (1988)
Ho	[2.1 ppm]	granite	-	Jiang et al. (1997)
Er	[6.25 ppm] [4.83 ppm] [1.6 ppm]	Granite tourmalinite granite	- - -	Jiang et al. (1997) Jiang et al. (1999) Neiva (1974)
Tm	[1.05 ppm]	granite	-	Jiang et al. (1997)
Yb	[6.5 ppm]	granite	-	Jiang et al. (1997)
Lu	[1.48 ppm] [0.95 ppm]	Tourmalinite granite	- -	Jiang et al. (1999) Jiang et al. (1997)
Hf	[5.2 ppm]	granite	-	Jiang et al. (1997)
Ta	[6 ppm] [21.2 ppm] [170 ppm] [230 ppm]	Granite granite pegmatite (intermediate zone) Altered granites	- - qtz + ab + tur -	Jiang et al. (1997) Neiva (1974) Jolliff et al. (1986) Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
W	[3712 ppm] [751 ppm] [12 ppm]	tourmalinite Biotite granite -	- - -	Jiang et al. (1999) Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983) Roda et al., (1995)
Re
Os
Ir
Pt
Au	[175 ppm]	-	-	Neiva (1974)
Hg
Tl	[6 ppm] [7.5 ppm]	- Pegmatite	- -	Neiva (1974) Lyakhovich and Lyakovich (1983)
Pb	[2830 ppm or 0.30%] 0.98% 1.1%	Cu ore - -	- - -	Slack et al. (1999) – proton probe Dubinina and Kornilovich (1968) Lebedev (1937)
Bi	0.5%	Pegmatite	Paraiba, Brazil	Henn et al., (1990)
Po
At
Rn
Fr
Ra
Ac
Th	[36.8 ppm] [18.7 ppm]	Granite -	- -	Jiang et al. (1997) Roda et al., (1995)
Pa
U	[36.1 ppm] [26.4 ppm] [7 ppm]	tourmalinite Granite -	- - -	Jiang et al. (1999) Jiang et al. (1997) Roda et al., (1995)
Np
Pu
Am
Cm
Bk
Cf
Es
Fm
Md
No
Lw

Note: These values are the highest that I have found in the literature, or calculated based on stoichiometry of an ideal end member species. In most cases there are multiple entries of an element given due to the possibility of analytical error, especially for those bulk analyses that could contain inclusions of other minerals.

Darrell Henry is the Campanile Charities Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University whose research specialty is metamorphic petrology. Further details of his professional background are included in an accompanying vita or faculty profile.

To contact Darrell Henry call (225)-578-2693, fax (225)-578-2302 or e-mail dhenry@geol.lsu.edu . Address: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.

This page was last updated on 04/17/06.

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