2.05" Translucent Sphalerite Crystals on Druzy Quartz - China

Here is a beautiful 2.05" wide sphalerite var. cleiophane and druzy quartz crystal association, collected from the Shuikoushan ore field of China.

Cleiophane is a variety of sphalerite with a low iron and Manganese content. It typically forms orange-yellowish or greenish crystals.
Sphalerite is a part of the sulfide group and typically exhibits a grey/black appearance due to high concentrations of impurities. In its purest state, sphalerite's chemical composition is ZnS, and can display a gemmy transparent light tan/yellow color. This is one of the few minerals that can form crystals ranging anywhere between gemmy and transparent to opaque and metallic-like. Opaque or cloudy sphalerite tends to be most abundant since iron easily replaces zinc in the process of formation.

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.

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DETAILS
SPECIES
Sphalerite var Cleiophane & Quartz
LOCATION
Shuikoushan Ore Field, China
SIZE
2.05" wide
CATEGORY
ITEM
#146674