Much Occidental Turquoise is fossilized bone or teeth consisting of microcrystalline apatite.
Originally thought to be coloured by vivianite, or perhaps by copper salts, recent research has suggested that the original material was fossilized mastodon ivory found in Miocene geological layers next to the Pyrrenean chain, France - which has been heated to induce the blue colour change.
The material is almost entirely fluorapatite, with traces of Fe, Mn, Ba and U. Odontolite owes its turquoise-blue color to Mn5+ ions in a distorted tetrahedral environment of four O2– ions.
Ref: American Mineralogist; November 2001; v. 86; no. 11-12; p. 1519-1524
No information on health risks for this material has been entered into the database. You should always treat mineral specimens with care.
References for Occidental Turquoise
Reference List:
Palache, C., Berman, H., & Frondel, C. (1951), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 7th edition, revised and enlarged, 1124 pp.: 950.
American Mineralogist; November 2001; v. 86; no. 11-12; p. 1519-1524
