Quartz Species Part 2 - Amethyst & Amethyst Quartz

Hi everyone, 

In today's blog I would like to talk about Amethyst and Amethyst quartz.  I really like the dark purple colour of amethyst.  I find it to be very relaxing and soothing.  I also find it interesting that amethyst also comes in a green colour.  If you are not aware amethyst is the birthstone for people born in February.  If I was a February baby I would like the fact that my stone comes in different colours.  I hope that you will follow me on the journey that is amethyst and I hope you learn something new and exciting.

So lets talk amethyst.  As before all the information that I am using for this blog can be found in the book Gemstones of the World by Walter Schumann.  The colour ranges for amethyst are purple, violet, pale-red violet.  The colour streak is white and the Mohs hardness is 7.  The density is 2.65 and there is no cleavage.  The crystal system is trigonal, hexagonal prisms.  The chemical composition is silicon dioxide.  The transparency is transparent.

In the quartz group amethyst is the most highly valued gemstone.  The name is derived from the Greek meaning not drunken.  Because of this the gemstone was worn as a protection against drunkenness.  Amethyst crystals are always grown onto a base and the prisms are not usually well developed, because of this the amethyst crystals are often found as crystal points, called pointy amethyst.  These crystals often have the deepest colour.  When amethyst is heat treated between 878 and 1382 degrees F it produces light yellow, red-brown, green or colourless varieties.  The colouring agent in amethyst is iron.

The amethyst gemstones are found in geodes in alluvial deposits.  Brazil had the most important deposits. The main place is Rio Grande do Sul which has the Palmeira amethyst and Para which has the maraba amethyst.  Other places where amethyst can be found are Madagascar, Zambia, Uruguay, Burma, India, Canada, Mexico, Namibia, Russia, Sri Lanka, and the United States.  The best stones that are found are the ones that are faceted the others are tumbled or worked into ornaments.  Amethysts used to be a favourite gemstone of the high officials of the Chrisitan Church.

Another type of quartz related to the amethyst is the ametrine, which can also be called trystine.  This type of gemstone is a colour zone quartz variety.  The gemstone consists of half amethyst and half citrine.  This gemstone is found in Brazil and Bolivia.

Amethyst Quartz is violet with whitish stripes.  The colour streak is white and the Mohs hardness is 7. The density is 2.65 and it has no cleavage.  The crystal system is trigonal, hexagonal prisms and the chemical composition is silicon dioxide.  The transparency is transparent.  The amethyst quartz is the rougher form of amethyst.  It is also more compact.  This stone is layered and striped with milky quartz.  These gemstones are formed with amethyst.   The most common uses for amethyst quartz are beads, baroque stones, cabochons and ornamental objects.

I hope everyone who reads this post enjoys it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  I hope you learned something new and interesting.  Please let me know what you think of this blog.  I would like to hear from like minded individuals.  Until next time.

The rare gem lady