4.8" Orange Quartz Crystal Cluster - Diamond Hill, SC

The Diamond Hill Mine is located in the southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains, in South Carolina. Erosion over millions of years, exposed this 3 acre spot of mountain that some of the widest varieties of quartz variations in the world, come out of. Quartz variations such as amethyst, smoky, skeletal(elestial), milky, phantomed, iron and manganese oxide coated, and even aura quartz are know to have been deposited here through silica-rich hydrothermal processes. Other minerals including beryl, epidote, and garnet are known to come out of this location as well.

Silicon Dioxide, also known as SiO2 or Quartz, is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. Quartz crystals generally grow in silica-rich, hot watery solutions called hydrothermal environments, at temperatures between 100°C and 450°C, and usually under very high pressure. Quartz veins are formed when open fissures are filled with hot water during the closing stages of mountains forming, and can be hundreds of millions of years old.