Quartz

specimen number:
8821933

location:
Mooralla, Victoria, Australia

description:
Glassy gemmy crystal of smoky quartz set nicely on matrix. In good condition.

The Mooralla smoky quartz locality, situated near the Grampians in Western Victoria, Australia, is world-famous for its exceptionally sharp and lustrous "geode-grown" smoky quartz crystals. Geologically, these specimens occur within the cavities of a decomposed rhyodacite, part of the Devonian-aged Rocklands Rhyolite formation. These crystals formed from silica-rich fluids that filled gas vesicles in the volcanic rock, with their characteristic deep brown to black color resulting from natural radiation affecting aluminum impurities within the quartz lattice. Historically, the site was discovered in the mid-20th century and has been primarily worked by mineral collectors and small-scale prospectors rather than large industrial mining companies. While the most intensive digging occurred from the 1960s through the 1980s, the locality remains accessible to fossickers under specific state regulations, continuing to produce world-class double-terminated crystals that are highly prized for their clarity and intense smoky saturation.

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