Quartz

Quartz – better known as SiO4 in terms of Chemistry – is a silicon dioxide mineral that is found in profusion in the Earth’s continental crust. It’s the second most abundant mineral after Feldspar. Being a component of varied sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks, it is available in many colors. It can be violet, golden yellow, pink, brown, green and sometimes even colorless. Almost all different colors of Quartz are known by different names. The variety in its colors and physical properties depend more depend more significantly upon its place of origin.

Quartz can have clear crystals and can also be milky and smoky in appearance. It all happens naturally and depends much on geographical environments. The crystals of quartz can vary on shapes and sizes. In spite of that, it is considerably easier to recognize Quartz crystals because of their unique shapes. Their crystals have uniquely pointed and uneven terminations.

The formation of quartz normally occurs in hydrothermal veins cutting through rocks as gangue along with ore minerals. In another words, quartz veins are formed by filling up the cracks present in rocks. Hot brines originating at high temperatures carry varied minerals with them which drip into the rocks in cracks at considerably lower temperatures and pressures. This process of filling up the cracks in rocks continues as long as the cracks are not completely filled. At times, the process of filling up the cracks may stop early and it happens, it generally leaves pockets in the veins that can be outlined by crystals. The size of such crystals can be of different length, it all depends on geographical and environmental factors. Crystals that get congenial environment for their development may have the size of several meters in length and may weigh as much as 640 kg.