Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Quartz, Minerals, Rocks, and Other Gems
Who can keep them all straight?
I’ll start with the largest hunk of quartz I’ve ever seen, an 8,000-pound slab from Arkansas, newly obtained by the Smithsonian.
“Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earth’s crust. As a mineral name, quartz refers to a specific chemical compound (silicon dioxide, or silica, SiO2), having a specific crystalline form (hexagonal). It is found in all forms of rock: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. Minerals Education Coalition
This next piece was touchable, also at the Smithsonian.
“Pure quartz is clear. Color variance due to impurities: purple (amethyst), white (milky quartz), black (smoky quartz), pink (rose quartz) and yellow or orange (citrine).” Minerals Education Coalition
We found this heart-shaped amethyst at the Perot Science Museum in Dallas.
We found more quartz inside in the Gems and Minerals Hall. The Eyes of Africa is a gorgeous specimen of quartz adorned with ‘alien eye’ fluorite.
This may have been my favorite display of minerals anywhere. Here are a few more, they may or may not be quartz, as I’ve lost the labels. Still, aren’t they beautiful?
I love collecting rocks, but I’ve never been lucky enough to find hunks of quartz lying around. But when I’m walking on a sandy beach, I’m walking on tiny particles of quartz and feldspar, minerals grounded down over millions of years from igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Rocks? Minerals? Crystals? Who can keep them straight? Not me, so I’m including one more definition before I close.
“A rock is any two or more minerals bonded together, while a mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic element. A crystal refers to the structure of a mineral, and there are many different kinds of crystalline structures. A mineral can be part of a rock, and a crystal can be a mineral, but the terms are not synonymous.” How to find Rocks
So there you have it.
Sharing with #Sunday Stills.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
My wife has a large collection of every kind and shape of crystal. But fortunately none as large as those! Very nice photos, Susanne.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete! How wonderful to have a collection of crystal! My collection is mainly of rocks! But I love seeing these beauties in museums. 🙂
Gemstones are a beautiful and amazing feat of nature. Great post!
Aren’t they? 🙂 🙂 Thank you so much!
Great photos. I’m a geologist and I love these things. The Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh also has a very nice collection.
I’d love to visit someday! 🙂
oh and rocks can be composed of minerals and minerals can be crystals.
Yes indeed. 🙂 I learned that in researching this post.
Love them all! I’m a massive fan of crystals.
Thank you! Aren’t they wonderful? 🙂
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I’m so glad you could share your images of crystals for the challenge, Susanne! These examples of incredible. That huge quartz is stunning. I love the heart-shaped amethyst and the green alien eye! Planet earth sure creates some amazing geologic specimens!
Thanks, Terri! Yes, indeed! It was fun ‘mining’ my pictures and learning more about them!
It was very informative, thank you!
Beautiful photos.
Thank you. 😊
Interesting, loving the quartz!
Thank you! 🙂
Awesome.