Rockhounding Huge Quartz Veins: Unravelling The Mystery Of Crystals

Rockhounding Agate, Jasper and Quartz Crystals from a Huge Quartz Vein helps us understand Crystallography, or how crystals are formed. We learn about the terms: Cryptocrystalline, Microcrystalline, and Crystal. Cryptocrystalline is a term to describe a state of crystal formation where the crystals are so small you cannot see them with a standard optical microscope. Microcrystalline is a term used to describe a state of crystals where you can see them with a standard optical microscope, but not with the naked eye. Crystals are visibiel with the naked eye. Agate and Jasper are cryptocrystalline forms of quartz, often blending into the microcrystalline.

We rockhounded a quartz vein located on the San Rafael Swell. There we found examples of all three crystal formation stages. We took samples back to the laboratory and discussed these three stages of crystal formation.

Topics discussed:
Rockhounding for beginners
Crystallography
Cryptocrystalline Quartz
Microcrystalline Quartz
Quartz Crystals
How Agate and Jasper and Quartz Crystals are formed

00:00 Huge Agate Field On The San Rafael Swell
02:00 Quartz Crystals In Agate
03:33 Blue Agate
07:47 More Quartz Crystals in Agate
08:20 Jasper vs Agate
12:13 Shadow Had Enough!
12:44 Crystallography
19:24 Big Finds Reveal

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