---
title: "Paraíba tourmaline: meaning in gemology"
description: "Paraíba tourmaline is a blue, bluish green to greenish blue, green or yellowish green tourmaline. Copper and manganese mainly cause its color, whatever its…"
url: https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/paraiba-tourmaline
image: https://digitalgemology.com/img/og-digital-gemology.png?v=d224fb01
---

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[Glossary](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary) · Colored gemstones

# Paraíba tourmaline

Also called Paraiba tourmaline, paraiba, copper-bearing tourmaline

Paraíba tourmaline is a blue, bluish green to greenish blue, green or yellowish green tourmaline. Copper and manganese mainly cause its color, whatever its geographic origin.

## In more detail

It was first found in the state of Paraíba, Brazil, in the late 1980s. Similar copper-bearing tourmaline later came from Nigeria and Mozambique. A tourmaline with only traces of copper and low color saturation is not called Paraíba. Paraíba tourmaline is commonly heated, and labs cannot always detect this treatment.

## On a grading report

LMHC wording: Species: (natural) tourmaline. Variety: (color) paraiba (tourmaline). Origin is a separate line: Brazil, Nigeria, Mozambique, other or not determined.

## Related terms

- [Tourmaline](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/tourmaline): Tourmaline is a group of closely related mineral species with the same crystal structure. It has one of the widest color ranges of any gem.
- [Origin report](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/origin-report): An origin report gives a lab's opinion on the country or region where a gem was mined.
- [Heat treatment](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/heat-treatment): Heat treatment is controlled heating of a gem to change its color or clarity.
- [Saturation](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/saturation): Saturation is the strength or purity of a gem's color, from grayish or brownish to vivid.
- [Colored stone report](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/colored-stone-report): A colored stone report is a lab document that identifies a gem and states any treatment the lab detects. GIA's identification report describes the color but does not grade it.

[All 369 terms](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary)