Research on the Source Characteristics of Luonan Turquoise by Using Strontium Isotopic Method

The discovery of the Hekou ancient turquoise mining site in Shaanxi provides significant information for the provenance of turquoise in early China. High Precision Mass Spectrometer has been employed to try to detect the strontium isotopic composition of the turquoise samples that from five mines in the eastern Qinling Mountains. And then, the respective habitat characteristics of these turquoise samples have been identified and analyzed. The result shows that the strontium isotope ratio (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) of turquoise can be divided into three groups, with a range of 0.710 5 to 0.716 5. If the content of Strontium has been put into consider, the separation effect can be improved. Combined with the content data of the trace element Sr, a model for distinguishing different origins of turquoise has been established. Through using this model to test the turquoise from the Erlitou site, the result suggests that the Erlitou turquoise was likely to come from the Luonan ancient turquoise mine.