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4" Limonite Coated Quartz Cluster - Morocco
This is a cluster of pristine quartz crystals, coated in limonite. Limonite is an iron/hematite-rich mineral, hence where the rough coating gets its red-orange color from.
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.
SPECIES
Quartz & Limonite
LOCATION
Morocco
SIZE
4.0" long, 2.8" tall
CATEGORY
ITEM
#43815