10.4" Tall Quartz Perimorph (Stalactitic) Geode

The mines near Tarazout, Sidi Rahal, Morocco have produced these very mysterious, beautiful, and rare quartz perimorph geodes for the past 30 years. For many years they were referred to has psuedomorphs or quartz after other minerals, but they are actually perimorphs. Perimorphs differ from pseudomorphs because they do not replace the earlier minerals but rather form a crust on top of them. In this case, quartz/amethyst have grown over an undetermined earlier mineral that has dissolved away.

They are found within a hard basalt, and contain very unique forms which have sometimes earned them the name "stalactitic quartz geodes".