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Iris Quartz

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PDM694706

Iris Quartz

Description Tabs

Description
Locality: 
Sidi Rahal, El Kelaâ des Sraghna Province, Marrakesh-Safi Region, Morocco
Class: 
Crystals on Matrix
Size Range: 
Miniature (4.5-7 cm)
Size: 
6.3 × 4 × 3.5 cm
Description

This is a good representative specimen of iris quartz from the volcanic deposits at Sidi Rahal (Morocco), well-known by the amethyst geodes and agates. Iris quartz has been found only rarely in this locality. Interestingly some crystals show a kind of twinning where two rhombohedral crystals are interpenetrated. Both effects, twins and iridescence are difficult to catch on the pictures.

Self-collected in August 29th, 2015.

According to (Petrov and Tanaka, 2011), iris quartz (or rainbow quartz) is a quartz variety displaying internal spectral single colours or tiny rainbows normally on the rhombohedral faces. These internal colours are interference phenomenon due to reflection and refraction on extremely thin parallel brazil-law twinning lamellae (See Mindat: Iris quartz: Alfredo Petrov and Yuko Tanaka, 2011).

Found

 

Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Iris Quartz

Variety Of: 

Quartz

Formula: 
SiO2
Strunz: 
4.DA.05
Hardness: 
7.0
Hardness: 
0.0

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