What is quartz and how is it formed?

One of the most interesting minerals on earth is quartz (photo). Its composition, which includes silicon and oxygen, can be easily found even in the children's sandbox. Quartz originates in crystals, changes its appearance due to its proximity to other minerals, stones and metals, due to which, at last, it acquires an amazing color and shine.

What is quartz

According to the size of the crystals, the mineral is divided into two groups: coarse crystalline and cryptocrystalline. Amethyst, citrine, rock crystal, rauchtopaz, black morion are the most famous and beautiful species related to transparent large-crystal quartz. Scrotocrystalline varieties are, in turn, divided into fibrous (chrysoprase, agate, carnelian) and fine-grained (aventurine).

Quartz deposits are located in mountain hollows. So how is this breed formed? Quartz is unique, this is manifested in the fact that during its growth the crystal captures other minerals, impurities, even fragments of silt. Enclosing them, the crystal grows further, and the foreign particles become prisoners of stone ice forever. Thus, rare amazing stones are born, among which the stone "The Hair of Venus" and the quartz "Phantom" stand out.

«Hair of Venus»

Various minerals can be enclosed in a quartz shell. But the most valuable for jewelers is the stone with the inclusion of rutile. Rutile, or titanium oxide, when growing into quartz, displays an entertaining pattern in the form of needles or hairs. This mineral is of different colors: from black to gold. Rock crystal, milk or smoky quartz with inclusions in the form of golden hairs are called "Hair of Venus". According to legend, the very goddess of love dropped her golden curl in the mountain stream, and it froze forever.

What is quartz with gold inclusions of rutile? Sometimes this is a fantastic fire spray, encased in stone, and sometimes it really does see the magic hair of a stranger. And when the needles of rutile fill the quartz in parallel, a "cat's eye" stone is born.

"The hair of Venus" is a stone that protects from loneliness and symbolizes love. He is worn, wanting to preserve old feelings or find new ones, give to a loved one.

What is a "Phantom" quartz?

Sometimes the smallest particles of chlorite settle on the surface of the quartz. The crystal continues to grow, and inside it remains a contour of outlandish drawing. In the transparent thickness of the stone, one can see a snow-capped mountain top or a ghost of an abandoned castle. This is quartz "Phantom", which is sometimes called a stone of shadows.

Such germination of mineral dust in the crystal is an indicator of the changes that took place with the stone. The more often he was subjected to changes in temperature or radiation, the more bizarre his pattern. Such stones are a rare luck for scientists and collectors.

The keeper of Earth's memory, an eyewitness of global changes, a symbol of frozen time - that's what quartz "Phantom" is. Perhaps, that is why balls from a similar kind of mineral are used during meditations. People believe in the ability to discover the secrets of the past. Quartz "Phantom" will be an ideal gift to commemorate a new stage of life.