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Quartzite is a very hard rock composed predominantly of an interlocking mosaic of quartz crystals. The grainy, sandpaper-like surface is glassy in appearance. Minor amounts of former cementing materials, iron oxide, silica, carbonate and clay, often migrate during recrystallization, causing streaks and lenses to form within the quartzite. [ 1 ]
Quartzite is an attractive, durable, and heat-resistant material that looks great in most homes, but it comes with a higher price tag than limestone. However, the difference in price may not be as ...
Quartzolite or silexite is an intrusive igneous rock, in which the mineral quartz is more than 90% of the rock's felsic mineral content, with feldspar at up to 10%. [ 1 ] : 135 [ 2 ] Typically, quartz forms more than 60% of the rock, [ 3 ] the rest being mostly feldspar although minor amounts of mica or amphibole may also be present. [ 2 ]
The crystals are vitreous and vary in color from brown, blue, and green to more rare violet and pink. Substitution of iron and other tri-valent elements for aluminium result in the color variations. It has a Mohs hardness of 7 and a specific gravity of 3.3 to 3.4. Crystals show pleochroism from red to blue to violet.
The most common color of aventurine is green, but it can also be orange, brown, yellow, blue, or grey. Chrome-bearing fuchsite (a variety of muscovite mica) is the classic inclusion and gives a silvery green or blue sheen. Oranges and browns are attributed to hematite or goethite.
Egyptian faience is a non-clay based ceramic composed of crushed quartz or sand, with small amounts of calcite lime and a mixture of alkalis, displaying surface vitrification due to the soda lime silica glaze often containing copper pigments to create a bright blue-green luster. [7]
Llanite is a porphyritic rhyolite with distinctive phenocrysts of blue quartz (a rare quartz color) and perthitic feldspar (light grayish-orangeish). The brown, fine-grained groundmass consists of very small quartz, feldspar, and biotite mica crystals.
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 area of ...