The formation of pink quartz requires unusual and complex chemical and physical conditions that include partial ionic replacement within the quartz lattice, sufficient geophysical radiation to create color centers and enough space to permit crystal growth. Rose quartz is one of the most familiar color varieties of quartz. And pink quartz is sometimes intermixed with citrine, the golden-yellow color variety of quartz. The color of crystalline pink quartz also fades slowly with prolonged exposure to sunlight, while the color of massive rose quartz is stable. In addition, the color of pink quartz is often zoned and most intense near the crystal terminations. The inclusions in massive rose quartz inhibit crystal development, while the absence of inclusions in pink quartz ensures normal crystal development and a high degree of transparency. When white light boosts these trapped electrons to higher energy levels, they return to their normal levels by releasing excess energy as visible light that we perceive as pink or pale red. This partial replacement renders the lattice susceptible to distortion from the energy of natural geophysical radiation, creating color centers that form when radiation displaces phosphorus ions from their normal lattice positions, leaving voids that trap electrons.
Mineralogists soon learned that the color of pink quartz, unlike that of rose quartz, is created when some silicon ions within the quartz crystal lattice are replaced by trivalent aluminum ions and pentavalent phosphorus ions. When these specimens appeared on the collector markets of Europe and the United States, the limited supply was snapped up by both collectors and mineralogists. These crystals had water-clear transparency and a pink color that was similar, but not identical to, the color of rose quartz. Then in 1959, pegmatite miners in Brazil’s gemstone-rich Minas Gerais state discovered clusters of beautifully developed, terminated, hexagonal quartz prisms. Pink Quartz crystals are rarely larger than an inch or two in size. But these specimens attracted little attention from mineralogists or collectors at the time, Initially, they were assumed to be a rare, atypical subvariety of rose quartz. Pink quartz, a pink macrocrystalline variety of quartz, was discovered in pegmatites at Rumford, Maine, and first described in mineralogical journals in 1938. Usually aligned along the axes of quartz’s hexagonal crystals, these inclusions also explain the six-rayed asterism that appears in the star variety of rose quartz. After dissolving rose quartz from several different sources in hydrofluoric acid, researchers have recovered residues of flaky, pink-colored nanofibers, most consisting of dumortierite and other aluminum borosilicates.Īlthough these nanofibers make up only about one-tenth of one percent of the overall weight of rose quartz, they are highly reflective and create both its characteristic pink color and its soft translucency. More recent studies have shown the pink color is because of fibrous inclusions. These impurities were thought to distort the crystal lattice, causing it to reflect and transmit red wavelengths of light which the human eye perceives as varying shades of pink.
Mineralogists had traditionally attributed the color of rose quartz to traces of titanium and, to a lesser extent, iron and manganese.
Translucent and with uniform color distribution, it is found mainly in the core zones of granite pegmatites. Rose quartz always occurs in massive form without crystal faces or terminations. Rose Quartz Pin this post to save this information for later. While similar to rose quartz in color, it differs markedly in structure, degree of transparency, origin of color, occurrence, rarity, and cost. Pink quartz is a much lesser-known variety of quartz. Its delicate pink color, soft translucency, and affordability make it a popular gemstone. Rose quartz ranks high among the most attractive and familiar of the many color varieties of quartz. A section of golden-yellow citrine occupies the center of this cluster of pink quartz crystals.
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