Name/Title
Quartz with CinnabarEntry/Object ID
2012.1.14Description
Assemblage Zone: oxidation zone
Chemical Composition: SiO2
Crystal System: Tetragonal System
Description: Common Name: Quartz with Cinnabar
"QUARTZ"
Chemistry: SiO2, Silicon Dioxide
Class: Silicates
"CINNABAR"
Chemistry: HgS, Mercury Sulfide
Class: Sulfides and Sulfosalts
Location: unknown
Description: Two unrelated pieces of cinnabar (mercuric mineral) with orangish-tan color in base of opaque, white quartz crystal.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF QUARTZ:
Color is as variable as the spectrum, but clear quartz is by far the most common color followed by white or cloudy (milky quartz). Purple (Amethyst), pink (Rose Quartz), gray or brown to black (Smoky Quartz) are also common. Cryptocrystalline varieties can be multicolored.
Luster is glassy to vitreous as crystals, while cryptocrystalline forms are usually waxy to dull but can be vitreous.
Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent, cryptocrystalline forms can be translucent or opaque.
Crystal System is trigonal; 3 2.
Crystal Habits are again widely variable but the most common habit is hexagonal prisms terminated with a six sided pyramid (actually two rhombohedrons). Three of the six sides of the pyramid may dominate causing the pyramid to be or look three sided. Left and right handed crystals are possible and identifiable only if minor trigonal pyramidal faces are present. Druse forms (crystal lined rock with just the pyramids showing) are also common. Massive forms can be just about any type but common forms include botryoidal, globular, stalactitic, crusts of agate such as lining the interior of a geode and many many more.
Cleavage is very weak in three directions (rhombohedral).
Fracture is conchoidal.
Hardness is 7, less in cryptocrystalline forms.
Specific Gravity is 2.65 or less if cryptocrystalline. (average)
Streak is white.
Other Characteristics: Striations on prism faces run perpendicular to C axis, piezoelectric (see tourmaline) and index of refraction is 1.55.
Associated Minerals are numerous and varied but here are some of the more classic associations of quartz (although any list of associated minerals of quartz is only a partial list): amazonite a variety of microcline, tourmalines especially elbaite, wolframite, pyrite, rutile, zeolites, fluorite, calcite, gold, muscovite, topaz, beryl, hematite and spodumene.
Best Field Indicators are first the fact that it is very common (always assume transparent clear crystals may be quartz), crystal habit, hardness, striations, good conchoidal fracture and lack of good cleavage
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CINNABAR:
Color is a bright scarlet or cinnamon red to a brick red.
Luster is adamantine to submetallic in darker specimens.
Transparency crystals are translucent to transparent.
Crystal System is trigonal; 32
Crystal Habits: individual, well formed, large crystals are scarce; crusts and crystal complexes are more common; may be massive, or in capilary needles. Crystals that are found tend to be the six sided trigonal scalahedrons that appear to have opposing three sided pyramids. It also forms modified rhombohedrons, prismatic and twinned crystals as discribed above.
Cleavage is perfect in three directions, forming prisms.
Fracture is uneven to splintery.
Hardness is 2 - 2.5.
Specific Gravity is approximately 8.1+ (very heavy for a non-metallic mineral)
Streak is red
Associated Minerals are realgar, pyrite, dolomite, quartz, stibnite and mercury.
Other Characteristics: silghtly sectile and crystals can be striated.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, density, cleavage, softness and color.
Fracture: conchoidal
Hardness: 7 Quartz
Luster: Glassy
Occurrence: Quartz is an essential constituent of granite and other felsic igneous rocks. It is very common in sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and shale and is also present in variable amounts as an accessory mineral in most carbonate rocks. It is also a common constituent of schist, gneiss, quartzite and other metamorphic rocks. Because of its resistance to weathering it is very common in stream sediments and in residual soils.
Quartz occurs in hydrothermal veins as gangue along with ore minerals. Large crystals of quartz are found in pegmatites. Well-formed crystals may reach several meters in length and weigh hundreds of kilograms.
Notable Occurrences of amethyst are Brazil, Uraguay, Mexico, Russia, Thunder Bay area of Canada, and some locallities in the USA. For Smoky Quartz; Brazil, Colorado, Scotland, Swiss Alps among many others. Rose Quartz is also wide spread but large quantities come from brazil as do the only large find of Rose Quartz prisms. Natural citrine is found with many amethyst deposits but in very rare quantities. Fine examples of Rock crystal come from Brazil (again), Arkansas, many localities in Africa, etc. Fine Agates are found in, of course, Brazil, Lake Superior region, Montana, Mexico and Germany.
Rock Type: Sedimentary
Specific Gravity: 2.65
Streak: white
Texture: Crystalline
Variety: Quartz is the most common mineral on the face of the Earth. It is found in nearly every geological environment and is at least a component of almost every rock type. It frequently is the primary mineral, >98%. It is also the most varied in terms of varieties, colors and forms. This variety comes about because of the abundance and widespread distribution of quartz. A collector could easily have hundreds of quartz specimens and not have two that are the same due to the many broad catagories.
Cinnabar is a colorful mineral that adds a unique color to the mineral color palette. Its cinnamon to scarlet red color can be very attractive. Well shaped crystals are uncommon and the twinned crystals are considered classics among collectors. The twinning in cinnabar is distinctive and forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding the point of a pryamid. It could be thought of as two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going the opposite way of the other crystal. Cinnabar was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been the main ore of mercury throughout the centuries. Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today. Cinnabar shares the same symmetry class with quartz but the two form different crystal habitsCollection
Carol Swisher Mineral-Uses CollectionDimensions
Width
1-11/16 inDepth
1-3/16 inLength
2-1/8 inDimension Notes
Dimension taken at widest points
Two specimens:
2.1 x 1.7 x 1.2 inches
2.0 x 1.2 x 1.2 inchesLocation
Location
* Untyped Location
Needs Updated Location - 2022Category
Permanent
