Well yes Alan, when rubies find there way into a river be they do become river worn and break down over time. But those river-worn ruby pebbles most certainly began as larger crystals since that is the way rubies form. You can still see the crystal structure in many of the fragments in Alan's photo.The same can be said for tourmaline and garnets. Is is my understanding that red, clear stones are such as garnet and tourmaline are generally referred to as ruby in that area.
|