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Generalunusual surface texture on quartz found locally

16th Jul 2015 07:55 UTCReinhardt van Vuuren

Hi, I have attached a few photo's of the quartz crystals in question, they have a almost pitted surface but they still have a shine, under microscope it almost looks like there was some interruption in the crystal lattice because the shiny faces are there but they appear all broken up and pitted, my first thought was that it was inclusions that have worn away (perhaps chlorite group) but freshly broken areas show perfectly clear quartz underneath with no signs of inclusions, I found one crystal that changed my view on this theory because it too had this finely broken up or disturbed surfaces but it had a few places where the size of the "broken up"area is uneven in that there were a few areas where there are bigger undisturbed areas between the otherwise evenly broken up areas. The crystals appear matt but when you hold it at an angle in good light you notice that the surface is not completely matt but in fact finely broken up shiny surfaces. this is unlike anything I've found out in the field in my area before perhaps someone could share their opinion on the matter. One final note is that the crystals do seem to have an off grey-green colour to them more grey than green though.

16th Jul 2015 07:57 UTCReinhardt van Vuuren

one more photo just to be sure you have enough to work from. ps you will notice that the corners are not rounded so I do not suspect any abrasion such as tumbling.

16th Jul 2015 18:09 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Maybe the silica, for the brown hyalite crust in you other thread, came from the pits?

16th Jul 2015 20:25 UTCTony Charlton

There are several minerals that can form at the same time as quartz in a pocket. My guess is that one of these formed at the same time the quartz was, at the end of the growth period. This causes the surface of the quarts to appear frosted when it is "stepped" from the partial blockage of the growth.

Tony

17th Jul 2015 07:06 UTCReinhardt van Vuuren

Tony, that theory seems plausible, I must try and get some microscope photo's of the surface over the weekend perhaps it would make things a bit more conclusive.

Rob, no this sample was found in another area all together, the one with the silica is from a local beach and this sample just like the chlorite included one came from an area close to the maitlands mines, but about 10 meters apart.

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