5.3" Silvery Druzy Quartz Cluster - Uruguay

This is a specimen of a silver colored, quartz cluster from the amethyst mines near Artigas, Uruguay. It was mined from within a pocket in the basalt. The quartz is actually colorless and it is the dark matrix beneath that gives it the appearance of being a silver-black color.

Quartz is the name given to silicon dioxide (SiO2) and is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. Quartz crystals generally grow in silica-rich environments--usually igneous rocks or hydrothermal environments like geothermal waters--at temperatures between 100°C and 450°C, and usually under very high pressure. In either case, crystals will precipitate as temperatures cool, just as ice gradually forms when water freezes. Quartz veins are formed when open fissures are filled with hot water during the closing stages of mountain formation: these veins can be hundreds of millions of years old.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Quartz var. Prasiolite
LOCATION
Artigas, Uruguay
SIZE
5.3 x 4.1 x 3.0
CATEGORY
ITEM
#121400