Editing Amazonite (section)

== Color ==

For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery.<ref name="mineralogist"/> Some people assumed the color was due to copper because [[copper]] compounds often have blue and green colors.<ref name="mineralogist">{{cite journal | url=http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM70/AM70_794.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM70/AM70_794.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live | author=Hoffmeister and Rossman | title=A spectroscopic study of irradiation coloring of amazonite; structurally hydrous, Pb-bearing feldspar | journal=American Mineralogist | year=1985 | volume=70 | pages=794–804 | via=[[Mineralogical Society of America]]}}</ref> A 1985 study suggests that the blue-green color results from quantities of [[lead]] and water in the feldspar.<ref name="mineralogist"/> Subsequent 1998 theoretical studies by A. Julg expand on the potential role of aliovalent lead in the color of microcline.<ref name="Julg">{{Cite journal|last=Julg|first=A.|date=February 1998|title=A theoretical study of the absorption spectra of Pb<sup>+</sup> and Pb<sup>3+</sup> in site K<sup>+</sup> of microcline: application to the color of amazonite|journal=Physics and Chemistry of Minerals|publisher=Springer-Verlag|volume=25|issue=3|pages=229–233|doi=10.1007/s002690050108|bibcode=1998PCM....25..229J|s2cid=95011489|issn=1432-2021}}</ref>

Other studies suggest the colors are associated with the increasing content of lead, [[rubidium]], and [[thallium]] ranging in amounts between 0.00X and 0.0X in the feldspars, with even extremely high contents of PbO, [[Lead(II) oxide|lead monoxide]], (1% or more) known from the literature.<ref name="Pivec1981"/> A 2010 study also implicated the role of divalent [[iron]] in the green coloration.<ref name="Mindat"/> These studies and associated hypotheses indicate the complex nature of the color in amazonite; in other words, the color may be the aggregate effect of several mutually inclusive and necessary factors.<ref name="Ostrooumov"/>