ROSE QUARTZ, the pink variety of quartz

VARIETY INFORMATION:

VARIETY OF: Quartz , SiO 2 , Silicon Dioxide.
USES: Gemstone and ornamental stone.
COLOR: various shades of pink to a rosy-red.
INDEX OF REFRACTION: 1.544-1.553
BIREFRINGENCE: 0.009
HARDNESS: 7
CLEAVAGE: none
CRYSTAL SYSTEM: trigonal
SPECIMENS

Rose quartz is one of the most desirable varieties of quartz. The pink to rose red color is completely unique, unlike any other pink mineral species. The color is caused by iron and titanium impurities.

Rose quartz is used as an ornamental stone and as a gemstone. It is also an alternate birthstone for the month of January. Rose quartz is associated with emotional balance and forgiveness.

Although rose quartz is usually too cloudy to be used as a cut gemstone, a few exceptional pieces are found with enough clarity and color to make fine gems. Most gemmy rose quartz is used as cabochons where the clarity is not as important as the color. Rose quartz is also a very attractive ornamental stone and is carved into spheres, pyramids, obelisks, figurines and ornate statues.

Rose quartz is found in Madagascar, India, Germany, and several localities in the USA. Much rose quartz was extracted from a famous site near Custer, South Dakota, but now, most of the worlds supply of good quality rose quartz comes from Brazil.

Brazil is also the only current source of true well-formed crystals of rose quartz. Rose quartz was once believed to be only massive, found primarily in the cores of pegmatites. This lack of crystals is somewhat of a curiosity because quartz crystallizes into well-formed crystals in all its other macroscopic varieties. So amazing are the rose quartz crystals that the first ones discovered were dismissed as fakes by mineralogists from around the world.

If rutile needles are present in the rose quartz then a star effect or asterism is sometimes seen. The star is best seen when light is viewed through the rose quartz. This is different from asterisms in most other gemstones, such as ruby and sapphire, where the stars are seen when light is shown on the gems.

Rose quartz is only one of several quartz varieties. Other varieties that form macroscopic (large enough to see) crystals are as follows:

Amethyst is the purple gemstone variety.
Citrine is a yellow to orange gemstone variety that is rare in nature but is often created by heating Amethyst.
Milky Quartz is the cloudy white variety.
Prasiolite is the leek-green variety.
Rock crystal is the clear variety that is also used as a gemstone.
Smoky quartz is the brown to gray variety.

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