Smoky Quartz
Smoky Quartz is a variety of Quartz named for its “smoky” brown colors. Smoky Quartz is colored smoky-gray, light to dark brown to black by aluminum-based and irradiation-induced color centers. A very dark brown to black opaque variety of Quartz is known as Morion. The name Morion is the German, Danish, Spanish and Polish synonym for Smoky Quartz and is from a misreading of mormorion in Pliny the Elder.According to some authorities, mormorion was a dark-brown rock crystal possibly identified as Schorl or black Tourmaline.
Smoky Quartz is found at many locations worldwide. Some of the more notable localities for Smoky Quartz are: Linópolis, Divino das Laranjeiras, Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil. From Col de Talèfre, Mont Blanc Massif, Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France. From Klein Spitzkopje granite stock, Spitzkopje Area, Karibib District, Erongo Region, Namibia. Zinggenstöcke, Oberaar lake area, Grimsel area, Hasli Valley, Bern, Switzerland. In the USA at Crystal Park, El Paso County, Colorado; Middle Moat Mountain locality, Hale’s Location, Carroll County, New Hampshire; Mina Tiro Estrella, El Capitan Mts, Capitan District, Lincoln County, New Mexico.
| Category: | Quartz |
| Chemical Formula: | SiO2 |
| Silicon Dioxide | |
| Crystallography: | Trigonal |
| Crystal Habit: | 6-sided prism ending in 6-sided pyramid (typical), drusy, fine-grained to microcrystalline, massive |
| Twinning: | Common Dauphine law, Brazil law and Japan law |
| Cleavage: | {0110} Indistinct |
| Fracture: | Conchoidal |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 7.0 |
| Density: | 2.65 |
| Other: | lattice: hexagonal, |
| Color: | Brown to grey, opaque |
| Transparency: | Transparent,Translucent,Opaque |
| Luster: | Vitreous |
| Refractive Index: | 1.544 to 1.553 Uniaxial (+) |
| Birefringence: | 0.009 |
| Dispersion: | 0.013 |
| Pleochroism: | Dark: definite – brown, reddish-brown |
