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Quartz
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Artificial Quartz Clear Quartz Rutilated Quartz Miscellaneous Quartz Rose Quartz Smokey Quartz
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Quartz is the most common mineral in the earth's crust so it is not surprising that this species, was known to the ancient Greeks. They described the beautiful, clear six sided crystals as "Rock Crystals" and believed that these were a super cooled variety of ice.
Today it is known that these "Rock Crystals" are in fact composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Commercial applications of this compound include silicon chips and glass. Silicon dioxide also comprises of approximately 20% of the earth's crust and beach sand in most cases is 100% silicon dioxide. Quartz is also one of the major rock forming minerals in the earth's crust - granite which is a combination of quartz, mica and feldspar.
Despite the fact that quartz is a common mineral, good crystalline specimens are relatively rare. The crystals form over millions of years so changes in the geological environment would destroy most potential quartz specimens.
Many different varieties of quartz also exist and are dependant on the presence of other minerals in the surrounding rock. Quartz may be coloured purple (amethyst) or pale brown (smokey quartz) by minute traces of iron oxide within the silicon dioxide crystal lattice. Other colours include pink (rose quartz), reddish (strawberry quartz) or honey (citrine).
Other mineral impurities may crystallize with the quartz to result in inclusions. Mineral species that may include quartz are actinolite, tourmaline and rutile.
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Artificial Quartz Clear Quartz Rutilated Quartz Miscellaneous Quartz Rose Quartz Smokey Quartz
Quartz is also the building block of many other crystal types, see Agate, Amethyst.