What are Gemstone Inclusions?

The phenomenon of gemstone inclusions is that by which liquids, gasses, or crystals get trapped within the gemstone during the process of formation. These inclusions provide each gemstone with a unique marking similar to that of a fingerprint.
Inclusions can shed light on the type or location of the gemstone under examination. Almost all natural gemstones have at least some sort of inclusions that reveal themselves under sufficient magnification. There are three different types of gemstone inclusions:


1. Syngenetic Inclusions – created during the same time as the gemstones formation.
2. Protogenetic Inclusions – created prior to the gemstones formation.

3. Epigenetic Inclusions – created within the gemstone following the formation and crystallization of the stone.



Syngenetic inclusions are composed of liquids and solid crystals that form at the same time as the host gemstone. Consequently, these syngenetic inclusions also share a geological affinity to the host gemstone. In addition, the majority of syngenetic inclusions show properties of symmetry that give clues to their co-crystallization.



Protogenetic inclusions completed their formation before the host gemstone began to crystallize. These types of inclusions can occur by being in the same vicinity as a crystallizing host stone and can sometimes even be of the same chemical makeup of the host gemstone but just happen to be engulfed by the larger crystallizing gemstone. Another instance of protogenetic inclusion occurs when the inclusions were formed far away from the host gemstone but somehow got transported to the host's vicinity during crystallization.



Epigenetic inclusions form within a gemstone following the end of the crystallization process. This phenomenon occurs due to trapped gasses that undergo various processes of transformation once inside the host gemstone and inclusions that have slipped through cracks, holes, and scratches. If these infiltrators have radioactive characteristics they can also affect changes on the host gemstone from the inside out.

• 5
• 3