Peridot is a traditional birthstone for the month of August. It has a yellowish green color and is one of the world’s most popular and affordable green gems. Shoppers can expect to find it in almost every jewelry store.

Peridot is the gem variety of a mineral group known as olivine. Much of the world’s peridot is found in basalt flows. Basalt is an igneous rock that solidified from lavas erupted from volcanoes. The green sand beaches of Hawaii contain peridot crystals weathered from basalt. Some peridot falls to Earth in meteorites.