Tantalising Clear Quartz Crystal

A truly spectacular clear quartz crystal.  The crystal faces of this free-standing piece are subtly rippled.

In its purest form quartz is colourless and transparent.  It can be difficult to capture the true magnificence of clear quartz in a photograph because of the way the lense of the camera responds to the mineral's crystalline structure.

Clear quartz can range in colour from pure "crystal clear" to slightly milky or cloudy. It can also occur in a wide variety of different shapes and sizes.  It's typically found in veins or pockets within other types of rock such as granite or sandstone.

Clear quartz often forms from the solidification of silica-rich fluids which become trapped in the cracks and voids of a rock formation.  Over very long periods of time the fluids crystallize into quartz.

Quartz is a hard crystalline mineral made up of silicon and oxygen atoms. It's classified as a silicate mineral which means it contains a high proportion of silicon and oxygen atoms.  The atoms are bonded together in a repeating three-dimensional pattern.