1.6" Sparkly, Pink Amethyst Geode Section - Argentina

This material has been analyzed at the California Institute of Technology and was described as "purplish pink amethystine quartz additionally coloured by microscopic hematite particles". They are not rose quartz or pink quartz as classically defined.

Pink amethyst is formed by the same processes that gives amethyst its purple color, but by definition amethyst is purple, not pink. Thus, we are left with a conundrum of what to call it! But since the majority of people seem to be calling it "pink amethyst", we will stick with that label.

About Quartz

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.