3.4" Malachite and Limonite Coated Quartz Cluster - Morocco

This is a cluster of quartz crystals, coated in limonite. Limonite is an iron/hematite-rich mineral, hence where the rough coating gets its red-orange color from. Malachite can be found overlaying much of the limonite, which can be identified by its mossy green coloring.

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
Quartz, Malachite & Limonite
LOCATION
Morocco
SIZE
3.4" long, 2.2" wide
CATEGORY
ITEM
#43814