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Quartz. Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO 4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO 2. Quartz is, therefore, classified structurally as a framework silicate mineral ...
Quartzite. Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. [1][2] Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and ...
Prasiolite. Prasiolite (also known as green quartz, green amethyst or vermarine) is a green variety of quartz. Since 1950, almost all natural prasiolite has come from a small Brazilian mine, [citation needed] but it has also been mined in the Lower Silesia region of Poland. Naturally occurring prasiolite has also been found in the Thunder Bay ...
Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz (SiO. 2) and owes its violet color to irradiation, impurities of iron (Fe3+. ) and in some cases other transition metals, and the presence of other trace elements, which result in complex crystal lattice substitutions. [2][3][4] The irradiation causes the iron Fe3+.
Chert (/ tʃɜːrt /) is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, [1] the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO 2). [2] Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a chemical precipitate or a diagenetic replacement, as in petrified wood.
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, [1][2] categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start fires. Flint occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones ...
Smoky quartz. Smoky quartz is a brownish grey, translucent variety of quartz that ranges in clarity from almost complete transparency to an almost-opaque brownish-gray or black crystals. [6] The color of smoky quartz is produced when natural radiation, emitted from the surrounding rock, activates color centers around aluminum impurities within ...
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, [1][2] is an opaque, [3] impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to iron (III) inclusions. Jasper breaks with a smooth surface and is used for ornamentation or as ...