Mineral Mondays #9: Quartz

Quartz

Quartz is a mineral composed of silica and oxygen. It's the second most common mineral in the Earth's crust behind feldspar. This makes it extremely common, but it also means that there are many more varieties of crystals. Everyone can attain a fantastic cluster of small quartz crystals for as little as $20. Quartz is also the mineral that makes up many other beautiful minerals like chalcedony, agate, jasper, onyx and more.

What quartz lacks in rarity, it makes up for in variety specimens. Some of the famous varieties of quartz are amethyst, purple quartz, citrine yellow, orange quartz, and smokey quartz, brown quartz. There are many more varieties, but these are some of the more famous and common. No doubt most people have seen the amethyst quartz geodes. A little secret, many are fake. They are pieced together from openings that have been ruined when dug into, or just completely fabricated. There are real ones out there, but you have to know what to look for or have an honest dealer tell you so.

One of my favorite varieties of quartz are called "scepters". These are reminiscent of a wizards wand. A quartz scepter has a growth that bulges on the top of the original quartz crystal. While scepters are not limited to quartz, quartz produces a lot and so it is much easier to acquire one. Below is an example of a quartz scepter.

Some facts about Quartz:

Quartz is silicon & oxygen mineral.
Shape - 6 sided prism
Composition - silicon and oxygen
Hardness - 7 (upper medium, diamond is 10)
Refractive index (fire) - 1.53 - 1.54 (diamond is 2.417 - 2.419)
Colors - Translucent, pink, purple, green, blue, orange, brown
Localities - All over the world, too many to list

Enjoy some more quartz specimen photos.

Quartz on Hematite - Japan

Smokey Quartz With Tourmaline - Brazil

Quartz Found Recently At The Himalaya Mine, CA

Rose Quartz Boulder In Japan

There are many more varieties of quartz, too many to list. It's a great entry mineral into gem & mineral collecting because it's so common, durable and great specimens are cheap. If you are looking to get started, I'd recommend starting with quartz.