Crystals

These crystals are what they sound like: clear. They do not contain bubble, so light is able to pass through them, showing a clear view.

Most of the earth's crystals were formed millions of years ago. Crystals form when the liquid rock from inside the earth cool and harden. Sometimes crystals form when liquids underground find their way into cracks and slowly deposit minerals.

Quartz crystals have piezoelectric properties, which means they develop an electric potential upon the application of mechanical stress. An early use of this property of quartz crystals was in phonograph pickups.

One of the most common piezoelectric uses of quartz today is as a crystal oscillator. The quartz clock is a familiar device using the mineral. The resonant frequency of a quartz crystal oscillator is changed by mechanically loading it, and this principle is used for very accurate measurements of very small mass changes in the quartz crystal microbalance and in thin-film thickness monitors.

The most common type of quartz found in the Ouachita Mountains.

The cloudiness of milky quartz comes from microscopic inclusions of fluids that have been encased in the crystal from the time the crystal first grew.

From a cynical point of view, and one that I disagree with, the inclusions have ruined the crystal from being used for the many purposes that quartz crystals are tasked to do (e.g. gemstones or optic purposes).

However, in reality, milky quartz is used in many fine ornamental carvings and the fluid inclusions can give milky quartz a attractive greasy luster unlike the other varieties of quartz.

Rose quartz is named after its color, which can fade in time with heat and direct sunlight. The pale pink to deep red rose color, occasionally with a purplish tinge, is caused by traces of manganese or titanium.

Rose Quartz is not popular as a gem, the mineral is often found too cloudy and not clear enough to be cut into a gem. There are exceptions to this as found in very rare findings of rose quartz. Rose Quartz is more often carved into figures such as people or hearts. Hearts are commonly found because Rose Quartz is a pink and an affordable mineral.

Smoky quartz occurs next to Cretaceous igneous rocks near Magnet Cove in Hot Spring county. The dark color is caused by radioactivity that irradiated the crystal during, or shortly after, its formation. Growth zoning is common in crystals from this area. Some natural smoky quartz has also been found in Garland County.

Quartz with fluid inclusions ("bubble quartz") and negative or skeletal crystals are present in the younger formations (Stanley and Atoka) of the Ouachita Mountains. Usually, these types of crystals resemble quartz from Herkimer, New York, and are formed in calcite veins which commonly weather away, leaving the crystals suspended in clay.

Phantom quartz is caused by temporary interruption(s) of the crystal's growth process. Small bubbles, or small settling particles of shale or fine-grained minerals, adhere to the crystal faces of the growing quartz, resulting in 'phantoms' that look like a crystal grown inside of another crystal.

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On the Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood television show, they learn about the importance of Arkansas crystal.

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