Pendant – Larimar

Larimar is a light-blue variety of the mineral Pectolite. The colour is caused by Copper replacing the Calcium. Larimar is only found in one place in the world; the southern tip of the Dominican Republic. It forms in cavities left by gas bubbles in solidifying basaltic magma. In water dissolved Larimar passes by these cavities and slowly deposits. A part of the Larimar, the lighter parts, are made up of Calcite and Natrolite. The deeper the colour, the higher the hardness of the stone, caused by a higher amount of Pectolite and lower amount of Calcite and Natrolite. The stone was named by its discoverer Miguel Méndez after his daughter Larissa and mar (sea in Spanish) in 1974. The reference to the sea comes from the blue colour and the patterns that resemble sunlight in the Caribbean Sea. He discovered the stone in the sea as well, left behind in river sediment. Larimar is traded in big amounts in the Dominican Republic, in large companies and wholesales, but also in small stands and by street merchants.