Correlations between Garnet Species and Vibration Spectroscopy: Isomorphous Substitution Implications

Garnet has many species because of its common isomorphism. In this study, a suite of 25 natural gem-quality garnets, including pyrope, almandine, spessartine, grossular, and andradite, were examined by standard gemological testing, LA-ICP-MS, FTIR, and Raman analysis. Internal stretching and bending vibrations of the SiO4-tetrahedra of garnet exhibit correlate with the type of cations in garnet’s dodecahedral position (A site) and octahedral position (B site). FTIR and Raman spectra showed that with the increase of the radius of Mg2+, Fe2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+ in A site, or the unit cell volumes of pyrope, almandine, spessartine, and grossular, the spectral peaks of Si–Ostr and Si–Obend modes shift to low wavenumber. Because of the largest cations both in A site (Ca2+) and in B site (Fe3+), andradite exhibited the lowest wavenumber of Si–Ostr and Si–Obend modes of the five garnet species. Therefore, garnet has correlations between chemical composition and vibration spectroscopy, and Raman or IR spectroscopy can be used to precisely identify garnet species.