Crystalis Crystal Dictionary

Indicolite

The Blue Current of Intuition

Your voice needs depth that the current channels cannot provide. Indicolite is blue tourmaline, dark enough to suggest ocean floor and still running current through a striated borosilicate body. The current needs a deeper channel.

Intent

Balance

Communication & TruthIntuition & Inner VisionEmotional Balance

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Somatic note

Indicolite bridges the Throat and Third Eye chakras, creating a direct channel between perception and expression. Its blue frequency addresses states where the...

Overview

The heart of the entry

Your truth needs deeper water. Indicolite is blue tourmaline, dark enough to feel oceanic, directional enough to keep...

Mineralogy

Tourmaline

Indicolite is blue tourmaline, specifically the blue variety of elbaite: Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4. The blue...

Formation

How it forms

Trigonal system — earth conditions, structure, and place.

Crystal system diagram represents the general trigonal classification. Diagram created by Crystalis for educational reference.

What your body knows

Balance

Indicolite bridges the Throat and Third Eye chakras, creating a direct channel between perception and expression. Its blue frequency addresses states where the...

The Meaning

Indicolite in the Crystalis dictionary

Your truth needs deeper water.

Indicolite is blue tourmaline, dark enough to feel oceanic, directional enough to keep its line while carrying all that depth. The color goes down instead of out. Expression with ballast lands differently.

Stone Lore

Stories carried through time

Cultural notes are presented as tradition and historical context — stories carried through time.

European Mineralogy

The Blue Tourmaline Classification

Abraham Gottlob Werner at the Freiberg Mining Academy in Saxony classified blue tourmaline as indicolite in the late 18th century, drawing from the Latin indicum and Greek indikon referencing the indigo plant dye. Werner's naming distinguished the blue variety from the already bewildering spectrum of tourmaline colors that had challenged European mineralogists since the Dutch East India Company first imported Sri Lankan tourmaline in the early 1700s.

The classification helped systematize what was then among the most compositionally variable mineral groups known, with blue coloration attributed to iron and titanium substitution within the complex borosilicate crystal structure.

Late 18th-19th century

Origin lore

The Minas Gerais Pegmatite Production

Brazil's Minas Gerais state established itself as the primary global source of gem-quality indicolite through sustained production from lithium-rich pegmatites throughout the 20th century. Mines in the Aracuai and Jequitinhonha river...

Brazilian Gem Industry · 20th century

Historical note

The Iron-Titanium Color Mechanism

Spectroscopic research conducted at gemological laboratories including the GIA and the University of Mainz identified the cause of indicolite's blue coloration as intervalence charge transfer between iron (Fe2+) and titanium (Ti4+) ions...

Gemological Science · 20th century

Ritual history

The Throat Channel Practice

Crystal practitioners in the 1990s adopted indicolite as the primary tourmaline variety for throat-centered work, distinguishing it from other blue stones by its piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties -- the documented ability to...

Contemporary Crystal Practice · 1990s-present

Earth Record

Mineralogy and formation

Variety of Tourmaline

Indicolite is blue tourmaline, specifically the blue variety of elbaite: Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4. The blue ranges from pale to extremely dark, sometimes so deep it appears nearly black until backlighting reveals the blue saturation. The color comes from Fe2+ and Fe3+ in different structural sites within the tourmaline lattice, with intervalence charge transfer between the two oxidation states absorbing wavelengths that leave blue dominant.

Like all elbaite, it is piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and strongly pleochroic (the color changes with crystal orientation). Indicolite forms in lithium-bearing granitic pegmatites. The name derives from "indigo." Fine specimens come from Brazil, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Paraiba (where copper-bearing tourmaline produces the electric neon-blue variety called Paraiba tourmaline, which is a separate phenomenon entirely).

Crystal system diagram represents the general trigonal classification. Diagram created by Crystalis for educational reference.

Trigonal structure

Chemical Formula

Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4

Crystal System

Trigonal

Mohs Hardness

Specific Gravity

3.06

Luster

Vitreous

Color

Blue, teal, deep blue

IMA Status

variety

IMA Number

Not IMA-approved (variety of tourmaline)

Mineral conditions gather

Structure begins to crystallize

Indicolite records place and pressure

BrazilAfghanistanNigeria

Telling it apart

No. Indicolite is iron-colored (Fe 2+ ) blue tourmaline. Paraiba tourmaline is copper-colored (Cu 2+ ) blue-to-green tourmaline with a distinctive neon, electric quality.

Both are elbaite tourmaline but with completely different chromophores. Paraiba tourmaline is far rarer and commands dramatically higher prices. $10,000-$50,000+ per carat for fine stones versus $100-$500+ for comparable indicolite.

Spotting the real thing

Pleochroism Indicolite is strongly pleochroic, it shows distinctly different colors from different crystal directions. Typical pleochroism in indicolite: deep blue along one axis and lighter blue to blue-green or greenish along another. This directional color variation is visible to the naked eye in most specimens and easily confirmed with a dichroscope. Glass and most simulants show no pleochroism.

This is the single most useful field test for tourmaline authenticity. Vertical Striations Natural tourmaline crystals display prominent vertical striations and a rounded triangular cross-section. These features are diagnostic of the tourmaline group and are present on raw crystals and sometimes preserved on the backs of faceted stones. If a blue stone claiming to be tourmaline has no striations and smooth, non-trigonal crystal habit, further investigation is warranted.

Hardness Test Indicolite is Mohs 7-7. 5. It will scratch glass (5-6) and cannot be scratched by a steel knife.

Cross-referenceMindat ↗

Energetic Associations

How people most often work with Indicolite

Balance

A traditional association that gives Indicolite a clear intention pathway in practice.

Communication & Truth

A traditional association that gives Indicolite a clear intention pathway in practice.

Intuition & Inner Vision

A traditional association that gives Indicolite a clear intention pathway in practice.

Emotional Balance

A traditional association that gives Indicolite a clear intention pathway in practice.

Primary pathway: Clarity & Focus

CommunicationHeart HealingInner Peace

Charged & on alert

The Muted Signal

You know the truth but you cannot say it. The words exist; you can feel them in the back of the throat; but something between the knowing and the speaking has shut down. This is not shyness. It is the dorsal vagal response to environments that punished honesty. You learned that speaking your truth had consequences: rejection, punishment, gaslighting, abandonment. So the nervous system constricted the channel.

The throat went tight. The voice went small. And the truths accumulated inside, pressing against a closed valve, creating the chronic sense of being unheard that has nothing to do with volume and everything to do with suppression. Indicolite addresses this state with the precision of its own blue. The stone is blue because iron atoms in specific paired configurations absorb everything that is not blue and transmit only the true signal.

That is what the throat needs: not more words, but fewer; only the ones that carry the actual frequency. Indicolite teaches the nervous system that speaking less but speaking true is not silence. It is clarity.

Shut down & far away

The Scrambled Channel

You are talking but you are not saying anything. The sympathetic system has flooded the communication channel with static; too many words, too much justification, too many qualifiers. You explain, over-explain, apologize, rephrase, circle back, and by the end of the sentence the original truth has been so thoroughly diluted that no one; including you; can locate it. This is not a language problem.

It is a nervous system problem: the sympathetic override generates word-volume to protect the vulnerable truth underneath. If you bury the real thing in enough filler, it cannot be targeted. But it also cannot be heard. Indicolite's blue is not scattered. It is not diffuse. It is a single, narrow band of transmitted light in the visible spectrum. The stone teaches the nervous system what clean signal sounds like: one frequency, sustained, without noise.

The practice with indicolite is not about speaking more. It is about stripping the interference until only the original transmission remains.

Settled & connected

The Disconnected Seer

You perceive everything. You see the dynamics in the room, the subtext in the conversation, the patterns that no one else is naming. Your third eye is wide open. But the bridge between seeing and speaking is broken. You oscillate between the urgency of what you perceive (sympathetic; the need to speak up) and the collapse of not being able to translate it (dorsal; the retreat into silence).

You are the person who says "I knew that would happen" after the fact because you could not say it before the fact. The perception is real. The translation is blocked. Indicolite sits at the junction between the third eye and the throat; the exact point where perception must become language. The stone does not give you better sight. You already see. It does not give you better vocabulary.

You already know the words. It repairs the connection between the two; the wire between the antenna and the speaker that has been cut by environments that said "you are too sensitive" or "you are reading into things" or "that is not what happened.

Settled & connected

The Blue Conduit

You see it and you say it. Not all of it; that would be noise. The relevant part. The true part. The part that the room needs to hear, delivered in the frequency the room can receive. Your throat is open but not reckless. Your third eye is active but not overwhelmed. The channel between perception and expression is clean, regulated, and directional; like indicolite transmitting blue from a specific iron configuration.

This is ventral vagal communication: the capacity to speak truth without aggression, to share perception without imposing it, to be honest without being brutal. The nervous system is neither constricted (dorsal silence) nor flooded (sympathetic noise). It is conducting a clear signal through a clean channel. You are the person in the room who says the thing everyone was thinking but no one could articulate, and you say it in a way that lands without wounding.

These associations come from tradition and reflective practice — a way of working with the stone, not a medical prescription.

Somatic Practice

Simple ways to work with Indicolite

Hold

Carry Indicolite in a pocket or place it over the heart center during a pause.

Meditate

Let the stone become a quiet tactile anchor while the breath slows.

Breathe

Breathe in softness. Breathe out tension. Keep the practice simple.

Journal

Write with Indicolite nearby to name the feeling without forcing a conclusion.

Bodywork

Rest the stone near the chest, hand, or bedside as a reminder to soften.

Environment

Place it where you want a visual cue for care, repair, or steadiness.

Field Instruction

The True Frequency

The True Frequency Protocol

3 min protocol

1
Throat Placement (20 seconds)Place the indicolite at the base of the throat -- the soft hollow where the collarbones meet, directly over the trachea. If using a tumbled stone, hold it in place with two fingers. If using a raw crystal, point it upward toward the chin. The throat chakra is the narrowest passage in the body's energy system -- the bottleneck between the heart's feeling and the mind's articulation. The indicolite sits at the bottleneck. Breathe in through the nose for 4 counts. Hold for 2. Out through the mouth for 5. One cycle. Feel the stone's weight on the throat. Tourmaline is dense -- 3.06 g/cm3. That weight on the voice center is the opening gesture.
2
The Hummed Tone (30 seconds)With the stone on your throat, hum a single tone. Any tone that vibrates in the throat rather than the chest or head. A medium-low pitch usually resonates best in the thyroid region. Hum for 5 seconds. Pause. Hum again for 5 seconds. Three rounds. You are vibrating the stone with your voice. Indicolite is piezoelectric -- your vocal vibration is generating an electrical charge in the crystal. You are activating the stone with the very instrument it is here to serve. Feel the hum move through the stone into the throat tissue underneath. The vibration is not symbolic. It is physical. You are shaking loose what has been stuck.
3
The Third Eye Bridge (40 seconds)Move the indicolite from the throat to the space between the eyebrows -- the third eye point. Hold it there gently. Breathe in for 5 counts through the nose. Hold for 3. Exhale for 6 through the mouth. Two cycles. With the stone on the third eye, ask silently: what do I know right now that I have not been saying? Do not search for grand truths. Small ones. The thing you noticed in a conversation but did not name. The feeling you identified but did not voice. The perception that came and went because you dismissed it. Just locate it. The third eye sees it. The stone is now going to carry it from the seeing place to the speaking place.
4
The Descent (50 seconds)Slowly move the stone from the third eye back down to the throat. Take 10-15 seconds for the descent -- let the stone trace the path between seeing and speaking. The bridge of the nose. The upper lip. The chin. The front of the throat. Return the stone to the hollow of the collarbones. This path is the channel. The physical movement of the stone traces the route the truth needs to travel. Once placed back at the throat, breathe in for 5 counts. Hold for 4. Exhale for 7. Two cycles. Say silently or aloud: "I see clearly. I speak cleanly. The channel is open."
5
The First True Thing (40 seconds)Remove the stone from your throat. Hold it in your dominant hand. And say one true thing out loud. It does not have to be profound. It has to be true. "I am tired." "I am angry about what happened." "I need help." "I know the answer and I have been afraid to say it." One sentence. True. Spoken with the indicolite in your hand. Then place the stone somewhere visible for the rest of the day -- on your desk, in your pocket, on a shelf near where you work. Every time you see it, remember: the channel is open. The blue is transmitting. You are allowed to say the thing you see.

Stone Intelligence

The fact that makes Indicolite memorable

The iron atoms in your indicolite are the same element found in green tourmaline — Fe2+ in both cases. The difference is where the iron sits in the crystal lattice and how it pairs with neighboring ions. In one configuration, iron absorbs red and transmits green. In another, iron pairs create intervalence charge transfer that absorbs red and yellow-green, transmitting blue. Same element.

Different position. Different output. That is not metaphor for communication — it is the physics of it. What you transmit depends not only on what you contain but on where you position it and how you pair it. Crystalis documents both the science and the practice because the indicolite never separated them — the same crystal field theory that explains why this tourmaline is blue also explains why your truth needs the right position to be heard.

SCI

Collector’s Note: Indicolite Discovery of the Mt. Mica Pegmatite, Oxford County, Paris, Maine

Rocks & Minerals · 2023Read source

SCI

Blue Dravite (‘Indicolite’) from the Elahera Gem Field, Sri Lanka

Journal of Gemmology · 2021Read source

SCI

Fe2+-Fe3+ interactions in tourmaline

Physics and Chemistry of Minerals · 1987Read source

Ritual Use

From reference to practice

Indicolite bridges the Throat and Third Eye chakras, creating a direct channel between perception and expression. Its blue frequency addresses states where the connection between knowing and speaking has been disrupted. where the person can see clearly but cannot communicate what they see, or can speak fluently but has lost contact with what is true.

The Muted Signal (nervous system pattern: DORSAL VAGAL. throat constriction, voice suppressed, truth swallowed) You know the truth but you cannot say it. The words exist. you can feel them in the back of the throat. but something between the knowing and the speaking has shut down. This is not shyness. It is the dorsal vagal response to environments that punished honesty. You learned that speaking your truth had consequences: rejection, punishment, gaslighting, abandonment.

So the nervous system constricted the channel. The throat went tight. The voice went small. And the truths accumulated inside, pressing against a closed valve, creating the chronic sense of being unheard that has nothing to do with volume and everything to do with suppression. Indicolite addresses this state with the precision of its own blue. The stone is blue because iron atoms in specific paired configurations absorb everything that is not blue and transmit only the true signal.

That is what the throat needs: not more words, but fewer. only the ones that carry the actual frequency. Indicolite teaches the nervous system that speaking less but speaking true is not silence. It is clarity.

The Scrambled Channel (nervous system pattern: SYMPATHETIC. over-talking, anxious communication, truth buried in noise) You are talking but you are not saying anything. The sympathetic system has flooded the communication channel with static. too many words, too much justification, too many qualifiers. You explain, over-explain, apologize, rephrase, circle back, and by the end of the sentence the original truth has been so thoroughly diluted that no one.

including you. can locate it. This is not a language problem. It is a nervous system problem: the sympathetic override generates word-volume to protect the vulnerable truth underneath. If you bury the real thing in enough filler, it cannot be targeted. But it also cannot be heard. Indicolite's blue is not scattered. It is not diffuse. It is a single, narrow band of transmitted light in the visible spectrum.

The stone teaches the nervous system what clean signal sounds like: one frequency, sustained, without noise.

Sacred Match

Sacred Match prescribes Indicolite when you report:

Truth stuck in the throat
Chronic over-explaining or word-flooding
Seeing clearly but unable to speak it
History of being silenced or gaslighted
Disconnect between intuition and expression
Anxiety around honest communication
Needing precision in speech, not volume

Indicolite finds you when you have been living with a broken wire between what you know and what you say. Not because you lack the words -- you have too many, or too few, or the right ones at the wrong time, or the wrong ones at the right time. The channel between perception and expression has been damaged by environments that punished truth-telling, by relationships that rewarded silence, by systems that called your clarity "too much."

Indicolite does not give you a new voice. It clears the channel the old voice was always broadcasting on. The blue was always there. The iron was always in position. The signal just needs the interference removed.

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Pairings Recipe File

Stones and herbs that harmonize with Indicolite

Crystalis crystal and herb pairing recipe box — Pairings are treated like a recipe file: clear use, method, and safety.

Crystal Companion

Indicolite + Amethyst

Use when: You want to layer the primary intention with another supportive tone.
How to work with it: Place the stones together during meditation, journaling, or a short reset.
Safety: Use as a reflective practice tool, not as a medical substitute.

Crystal Companion

Indicolite + Rhodonite

Use when: You want to layer the primary intention with another supportive tone.
How to work with it: Place the stones together during meditation, journaling, or a short reset.
Safety: Use as a reflective practice tool, not as a medical substitute.

Crystal Companion

Indicolite + Clear Quartz

Use when: You want to layer the primary intention with another supportive tone.
How to work with it: Place the stones together during meditation, journaling, or a short reset.
Safety: Use as a reflective practice tool, not as a medical substitute.

Crystal Companion

Indicolite + Black Tourmaline

Use when: You want to layer the primary intention with another supportive tone.
How to work with it: Place the stones together during meditation, journaling, or a short reset.
Safety: Use as a reflective practice tool, not as a medical substitute.

Green Tourmaline (Verdelite)

Same mineral family, different chakra, different function. Green tourmaline opens the heart. Indicolite opens the throat. Together they create the path from feeling to speaking: you can feel what is true in the heart and say what is true through the voice. This is the tourmaline pairing for people whose emotional intelligence is high but whose communication is blocked -- they know what they feel but cannot translate it into words that others can receive.

Lapis Lazuli

Lapis is the ancient throat stone -- truth, royalty, sacred speech. Indicolite is the electrical throat stone -- truth under pressure, charge-generating communication. Together they create a double layer of communication support: lapis provides the authority and gravitas, indicolite provides the precision and charge. This pairing is for situations requiring dignified truth-telling: board presentations, court testimonies, confrontations where every word must carry weight.

Amethyst

Amethyst opens the crown and third eye -- higher perception and spiritual awareness. Indicolite opens the throat -- the channel for transmitting what is perceived. Together they address the spiritual communicator: the person who receives insight but struggles to ground it in human language. Amethyst elevates the perception. Indicolite grounds the transmission. This is the pairing for writers, speakers, teachers, and anyone whose work involves translating the ineffable into the articulate.

Black Tourmaline

Black tourmaline grounds and shields. Indicolite opens and transmits. Together they create protected truth-telling: the ability to say what is real without absorbing the reaction. This pairing is essential for people who shut down not because they cannot speak the truth but because they anticipate the backlash. Black tourmaline absorbs the incoming response. Indicolite keeps the outgoing signal clean. Speak without flinching.

Aquamarine

Both are blue, both are throat stones, but their mechanisms differ. Aquamarine (beryl) provides the cool, clear water-quality of calm expression. Indicolite (tourmaline) provides the electrical charge of truth under pressure. Together they address different aspects of communication: aquamarine for the calm conversations, indicolite for the charged ones. The pairing builds a full-spectrum communication practice -- cool when you need cool, charged when you need charged.

Care & Cleansing

How to keep Indicolite in good condition

Water Safe?

Water safe

This stone is generally safe for short water contact, though polishing, fractures, and metal settings can still change how a specimen behaves.

Sunlight Safe?

Sunlight safe

Tolerates daylight; safe to charge or display in the sun.

Authenticity

What to check

Natural Indicolite should usually feel cooler than plastic or resin on first touch and warm more slowly in the hand.

The #1 Question Can Indicolite Go in Water? YES — FULLY WATER SAFE Indicolite is safe for water contact. Elbaite tourmaline registers Mohs 7-7. 5 and is chemically stable in water. The borosilicate structure does not dissolve, react with, or release compounds under normal conditions. Indicolite is as water-resistant as its green sibling verdelite. Running water rinse (30-60 seconds): safe — excellent everyday cleansing Soaking (up to 30 minutes): safe for natural, untreated stones Gem water / crystal elixir (direct method): safe — indicolite can be placed directly in the water vessel Salt water: brief exposure acceptable; avoid prolonged soaking for included specimens Ultrasonic cleaning: avoid for heavily included or fractured stones; safe for clean specimens Note: some indicolite has been heat-treated to improve color (reducing greenish modifiers to produce purer blue).

Heat treatment in tourmaline is stable and does not affect water safety. When in doubt about treatment status, brief rinses are the safest approach.

Temperature

Natural Indicolite should usually feel cooler than plastic or resin on first touch and warm more slowly in the hand.

Scratch logic

Use 7 on the Mohs scale as the check, not internet myths. A real specimen should behave in line with the hardness listed above.

Surface and luster

Look for a vitreous surface quality rather than a painted or plastic shine.

Weight and density

The listed specific gravity is 3.06. If a specimen feels unusually light for its size, it may deserve a second look.

My Field Guide

Your private record and next steps

Crystalis field notebook with botanical sketches and rose quartz

Journal

Add this stone to your private collection, then log what happened when you worked with it.

Shared Notes

Read public practice logs and pattern notes from the Crystalis community.

Open shared notes

Sacred Match

Find crystal, herb, and intention pairings that resonate with your season.

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Shop Indicolite

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Community field notes

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Frequently Asked

Questions people ask about Indicolite

What is indicolite?

Indicolite is the blue variety of elbaite tourmaline, colored by iron (Fe2+) occupying specific crystal sites that produce blue rather than green absorption. The name comes from the Latin indicum (indigo). Indicolite is the rarest color variety of tourmaline — true blue tourmaline is far less common than green, pink, or black. It registers Mohs 7-7.5, crystallizes in the trigonal system, and is both piezoelectric and pyroelectric.

Can indicolite go in water?

Yes. Indicolite is water safe. At Mohs 7-7.5, elbaite tourmaline is hard and chemically stable in water. Brief rinses, soaking up to 30 minutes, and gem water preparations using the direct method are all safe for natural, untreated stones. Avoid prolonged salt water exposure for included specimens.

Is indicolite the same as Paraiba tourmaline?

No. Indicolite is blue tourmaline colored by iron (Fe2+). Paraiba tourmaline is blue-to-green tourmaline colored by copper (Cu2+), sometimes with manganese. Paraiba tourmaline has a distinctive neon, electric quality that iron-colored indicolite does not replicate. Paraiba tourmaline is far rarer and more expensive — top stones reach $10,000-$50,000+ per carat. They are both elbaite tourmaline but with different chromophores and dramatically different appearances.

What chakra is indicolite?

Indicolite bridges the Throat and Third Eye chakras. The blue frequency resonates with both the fifth energy center (authentic expression, truth, communication) and the sixth (intuition, perception, inner vision). This dual-chakra placement makes indicolite the stone for speaking what you see — translating inner knowing into clear, honest communication.

Why is indicolite so rare?

True blue color in tourmaline requires iron (Fe2+) to occupy specific crystallographic sites (the Y-site) in a particular electronic configuration that absorbs red and transmits blue. In most iron-bearing tourmalines, the iron produces green instead. The conditions that create genuine blue — the right iron concentration, the right site occupancy, the right oxidation state — occur much less frequently than those creating green or pink. This makes indicolite the rarest of the common tourmaline color varieties.

Sources & Citations

Where this entry can be checked

Crystalis source notebook and citation desk

Back Matter

Readable for people. Structured for AI search.

Sources stay visible in the page so readers, search engines, and answer systems can follow the evidence trail.

01
SCI
Collector’s Note: Indicolite Discovery of the Mt. Mica Pegmatite, Oxford County, Paris, Maine
Freeman, G. (2023). Collector’s Note: Indicolite Discovery of the Mt. Mica Pegmatite, Oxford County, Paris, Maine. Rocks & Minerals. [SCI]DOI 10.1080/00357529.2023.2235985
02
SCI
Blue Dravite (‘Indicolite’) from the Elahera Gem Field, Sri Lanka
Nasdala, L., Wildner, M., Giester, G., Chanmuang, N.C., Scicchitano, M., Hauzenberger, C. (2021). Blue Dravite (‘Indicolite’) from the Elahera Gem Field, Sri Lanka. Journal of Gemmology. [SCI]DOI 10.15506/JOG.2021.37.6.618
03
SCI
Fe2+-Fe3+ interactions in tourmaline
Mattson, S.M. & Rossman, G.R. (1987). Fe2+-Fe3+ interactions in tourmaline. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals. [SCI]DOI 10.1007/BF00308220