Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, which has been erupting since May 3 of this year, has been the subject of some blingy rumors in the last few weeks: According to numerous news articles, Kilauea eruptions have been “raining” green gems called peridots, a gem-quality olivine crystal – that Hawaii residents find between the rubble and ash. Now, as it turns out, these reports are inaccurate.
Several updated news sources, such as the Washington Post and traveller24.com, have spoken to geologists at the University of Hawai They say that while olivine is a common mineral in Hawaiian lava, sizeable peridots are not “raining down” on some of the luckier Hawaii residents. According to them, the stones found in the lava are tiny and they do no separate from the lava themselves. Rather, one would have “to crush the lava to get them out and find them”, a geologist told traveller24.com.
Contrary to pictures of peridots raining down from the sky in Hawaii, which all look shiny and green, the actual olivine extracted from the lava in unpolished form is grey, not shiny and green. In fact, most of Hawaii olivine is not typically gemstone quality, but “too small and broken”.
