Distinctive Characterization of Marine water and Freshwater Cultured Pearls and Their Mother of Pearls

Abstract

The current experiment is intended to study the comparison of freshwater and marine water cultured pearls from a physico-chemical properties point of view. Water analysis, trace elements and minerals found in cultured water can influence the Mother of Pearl and pearl’s properties. Marine water pearls of Pinctada fucata cultured in Gulf-of-Mannar in South-East Indian coastal area. Freshwater pearls of Lamellidens Marginalis image pearls were cultured in groundwater source near Godavari River in Maharashtra, India. Raman Spectroscopy is used as finger print to identify the material. The presence of chromophores determined with absorption spectroscopy UV-VIS-NIR with diffused reflectance study. Quantitative and qualitative chemical analysis of trace elements was obtained with ED-XRF. Comparative study has been carried out for trace elements present in pearls and their mother of pearls. This ratio always plays an important role to conclude their source of origin. The atomic percentage ratio of trace elements Manganese and strontium in marine water and freshwater pearls are different. The trace elements found in mother of pearl were equivalent with trace elements present in the pearls. This may help to avoid any destructive method of analysing pearl properties; thus shell can be destructed instead of pearl.