Specifications
Descrizione
Locality: Baia Mare mining district, Maramureș County, Romania
The Baia Mare district lies in the Gutâi Mountains of northern Romania, part of the volcanic arc on the inner side of the Carpathians. Volcanic activity built these mountains between about 15.4 and 7 million years ago, and the hydrothermal fluids linked to it left hundreds of gold-silver and lead-zinc veins. The Main Vein of the Baia Sprie mine, 8 km long, is the longest ore vein in Europe.
Smoky quartz gets its colour from aluminium. In all smoky quartz a little aluminium takes the place of silicon, but the colour only appears once the crystal has been irradiated. Natural radiation over geological time removes an electron from an oxygen atom next to an aluminium ion, creating a colour centre that absorbs light and gives the typical smoky brown. With enough aluminium and intense radiation the quartz turns completely black, the variety called morion, and heating removes the colour.
Mining around Baia Mare is documented with certainty from the 13th and 14th centuries, and the late 15th century brought a first boom in gold and silver mining. More than 20 mines were still working the district's veins until 2007, and two of its deposits, Cavnic and Baia Sprie, are classed as world-class.
This one of a kind Smokey Quartz specimen from Romania features a long, plate-like matrix covered in dense clusters of smoky brown Quartz crystals. The surface is richly textured with hundreds of small to medium prismatic points, ranging from translucent gray-brown to darker earthy brown tones. Several larger crystals rise above the druzy surface, giving the piece a layered, rugged profile, while pale mineral coating and small brassy-gold flecks of likely Pyrite add natural contrast across the specimen. Its low, sweeping form makes it especially attractive as a cabinet or shelf display piece.
Smokey Quartz is a dark variety of Quartz, with its smoky coloration created when natural radiation interacts with trace aluminum within the crystal structure over long geological periods. Quartz has been used and admired since ancient times for tools, carving, ornamentation, and later scientific applications because of its durability and piezoelectric properties. Romanian Smokey Quartz specimens are commonly associated with the historic Carpathian and Maramures mining regions, where Quartz formed in hydrothermal veins alongside sulfides, iron minerals, and other metallic ores.
In crystal traditions, smoky quartz is associated with grounding, protection and calm focus.
Chemical Composition: SiO2
Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph.