4.2" Long, "Blue Smoke" Quartz Crystal - Columbia

"Blue Smoke Quartz" is a relatively new find that comes from the Santander Province in Columbia. The crystals have swirling clouds of microscopic inclusions that give them a wispy blue appearance. This subtle color effect is produced by the same light scattering properties that make the sky blue. Many of the crystals surfaces and the matrix these crystals are found in also contain a lithium based mineral, cookeite.

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.