7.7" Hedenbergite Included Quartz Crystal Cluster - Mongolia

This is an attractive cluster of green quartz crystals that was collected from the Huanggang Mines of Inner Mongolia. The green color of the crystals can be attributed to hedenbergite inclusions within the quartz. These needle-like inclusions become apparent when looking at the crystal's terminations and/or backlighting the crystals.

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.

Hedenbergite is a calcium iron (magnesium) silicate that often bears a range of green to brown coloration. The crystals are typically opaque and occur in stubby or prismatic aggregates. Inner Mongolia, Russia, and Greece all produce quartz crystals colored green by fibrous hedenbergite inclusions. A variety of hedenbergite can be found in Sweden as well: green-black, blocky crystals come from the Nordmark Odal Field in Värmland County.

Hedenbergite was given its name in 1819 by Jöns Jakob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist. He named the mineral in honor of Anders Ludvig Hedenberg, a chemistry student and co-worker who originally discovered and described the mineral in Tunaberg, Sweden.

The general chemical formula of Hedenbergite is CaFe2+Si2O6 .
SOLD
DETAILS
SPECIES
Quartz var. Prase (Hedenbergite inclusions)
LOCATION
Huanggang Mines, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia
SIZE
7.7 x 4.9 x 3"
CATEGORY
ITEM
#175728