3.3" Spessartine Garnet, Smoky Quartz & Mica on Feldspar - China

Here is a beautiful 3.3" spessartine garnet, mica, smoky quartz & feldspar association from Fujiang, China. The garnets and smoky quartz remained in excellent condition and formed from a feldspar matrix. Clusters of mica can be found protruding from the feldspar matrix. The base has been cut flat, allowing for aesthetic presentation.

Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals. They are the most common minerals on Earth, making up nearly 60% of the crust.

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.

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.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Spessartine Garnet, Mica, Quartz var. Smoky & Feldspar
LOCATION
Tongbei, Yunxiao County, Fujiang, China
SIZE
3.3" long, 1.3" wide
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#95186