3.1" Spessartine Garnet & Smoky Quartz Association - China

Spessartine Garnet & Smoky Quartz Association - China #92704

Here is a fantastic 3.1" wide specimen that's composed of pristine spessartine garnets & smoky quartz crystals, on a matrix of feldspar from Fujian Province, China. The garnets display a deep red coloration, with a hint of translucence that can even be observed in dim lighting. There is some very minor chipping to the terminations of the smoky quartz crystals, with one face having a small fracture, likely occurring during the extraction process.

This is a truly gorgeous specimen that would make an excellent addition to any mineral collection. Comes with an acrylic display stand for preferred presentation.

Garnets are nesosilicates with the general formula X3Y2(SiO4)3. Garnets come in many species, including pyrope, almandine (the most common species), spessartine, uvarovite, andradite and grossular, varieties of which are hessonite, cinnamon-stone, and tsavorite. Garnets are found in a wide variety of colors including red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, blue, black, pink, and colorless, though reddish shades are the most common.

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.

Smoky quartz is a grey-brown to black variety of quartz. This common name is derived from the appearance of smoke within the quartz crystal. Depending on the location and the chemicals present during formation, smoky quartz can appear opaque black, but it is typically translucent to some extent. It is believed that the quartz gains this color from a combination of natural irradiation and aluminum impurities.

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