question

[shaman15771]

What other gemstones/minerals are usually found around smoky quartz and/or rose quartz if any?

 

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[DDancer]

Depending on the mineralization of the area there can be quite a few materials Shaman. Its hard to say because quartz being so common is associated with most mineral deposits as well as standing on its own in some areas. Various feldspars are the most common material found in association with quartz as they are closely related in their areas of formation. Moonstone, amazonite, orthoclase, microcline are some of them. If iron rich minerals are around pyrites and various metals. Aluminia minerals lead to aquamarine, beryl's and corundum's.
Deposits from metamorphics, hydrothermal or sedimentary actions all have differing minerals often in association with quartz. Knowing your local area's geology or that of the area you hunt is important when trying to pick out whats what when you do find other nice stuff in association with any quartz mineral.

 

[G Freeman]

What other gemstones/minerals are usually found around smoky quartz and/or rose quartz if any?

shaman, I am sure others on Tnet know more about this than I do but if you have a lot of Silica in the ground where you are digging also look for yellow stones, could be Citrine, and also Beryl and Beryl can have a lot of good stuff in it too. Minedat.org is a good place to look up Beryl and tells you what all Beryl may be and have. Tourmaline too. DDancer covered it pretty good and his answer helps me.Just dig and dig. HH.

 

[shaman15771]

As you can see, we have a bit of everything. Does not mention quartz by variety however. We have quite a selection.

Western Piedmont, Smith River Allochthon. From expanded explanation (ref. VA002): Fork Mountain Formation (Conley and Henika, 1973; Conley, 1985). Light- to medium-gray, fine- to medium grained, polydeformed and polymetamorphosed porphyroblastic aluminosilicate-mica schist, interlayered with medium-gray irregularly-layered garnetiferous biotite gneiss, migmatitic in part; calcsilicate granofels; amphibolite; rare white marble; and, coarse calc-quartzite lenses. Complex schistosity, multiple crenulation cleavages, and partly-retrograded, polymetamorphic aluminosilicate and garnet porphyroblasts are diagnostic of Fork Mountain schists. Primary sedimentary structures rarely are preserved. A spectacular polymictic breccia bed that can be traced along strike for several miles within the Fork Mountain near Stuart is a notable exception. Medium- to coarse-granular, blue quartz lenses, angular to rounded inclusions of boudinaged fine-grained, color-laminated, calc-silicate rock, and thick beds of coarse, clast-supported, epidotized lithic breccia are typical of the Fork Mountain biotite gneiss. Prograde regional metamorphic mineral assemblages: (1) quartz + muscovite + biotite + garnet + staurolite + magnetite- ilmenite + rutile; (2) quartz + muscovite + paragonite + plagioclase + garnet + staurolite + sillimanite + magnetite-ilmenite + rutile; (3) quartz + biotite + sillimanite + potassium feldspar + plagioclase + garnet + magnetite-ilmenite; (4) quartz + plagioclase + biotite + muscovite + sillimanite + garnet + tourmaline; (5) quartz + plagioclase + potassium feldspar + biotite + hornblende + epidote + ilmenite; (6) quartz + plagioclase + potassium feldspar + muscovite + biotite + sillimanite + magnetite-ilmenite + garnet + kyanite. Retrograde metamorphic mineral assemblages: (1) quartz + muscovite + chlorite; (2) quartz + muscovite + chloritoid + chlorite; (3) quartz + muscovite + staurolite + chloritoid; (4) quartz + muscovite + kyanite. Contact metamorphic mineral assemblages: (1) andalusite + sillimanite + kyanite + corundum; (2) corundum + spinel + magnetite + kyanite. Geophysical signature: The Fork Mountain has a characteristic "curly maple" pattern on magnetic contour maps. This pattern is the result of isolated concentrations of highly magnetic minerals that produce rounded, high-intensity, positive and negative anomalies. The aluminosilicate-mica schist is the upper part of the Fork Mountain Formation and forms a series of northeastward- trending ridges along the northwest side of the Smith River allochthon. The garnetiferous biotite gneiss is at a lower structural level of the Fork Mountain Formation near Martinsville where lower strata have been intruded by the Martinsville igneous complex, and the remaining metasedimentary rocks contain extensive thermal meta mor phic zones locallized along the intrusive contacts (Conley and Henika, 1973). Biotite gneiss in the Fork Mountain Formation has been interpreted to be a highly metamorphosed diamictite (Rankin, 1975; Conley, 1985; and Pavlides, 1989). At the northeastern limit of the Fork Mountain outcrop belt, in Appomattox and Buckingham counties, the dominant lithologies are polydeformed yellowish-gray chloritoid-chlorite- muscovite quartzose phyllite and quartz-rich mica schist. Tightly-folded, transposed pinstriped segregation layering at a high angle to the penetrative schistosity defined by phyllosilicate minerals is characteristic; polycrystalline quartz-rich boudins are abundant. These rocks are lithologically indistinguishable from those along the highly-tectonized western margin of the metagraywacke, quartzose schist, and melange (CZpm) outcrop belt; current interpretation is that the Fork Mountain is correlative to some degree with CZpm.

Primary rock type
mica schist

Secondary rock type
gneiss

Other rock types
quartzite; melange

Lithologic constituents

Major
Metamorphic > Schist > Mica-schistmica schist

Incidental
Tectonite > Melange

Metamorphic > Metasedimentary > Metaclastic > Quartzite

Metamorphic > Gneiss


Map references

Digital Representation of the 1993 Geologic Map of Virginia", 2003, CD ROM (ISO-9660) contains image file, expanded explanation in pdf, and ESRI shapefiles, viewing software not included. This is a digital version of "Geologic Map of Virginia" published in 1993. Available from: https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/
[https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/]


Unit references

Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 1993, Geologic Map of Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, scale 1:500,000

Digital Representation of the 1993 Geologic Map of Virginia - expanded explanation: 2003, Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, Divsion of Mineral Resources, Publication 147, 85 pp

Digital Representation of the 1993 Geologic Map of Virginia", 2003, CD ROM (ISO-9660) contains image file, expanded explanation in pdf, and ESRI shapefiles, viewing software not included. This is a digital version of "Geologic Map of Virginia" published in 1993. Available from: https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/
[https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/]


Counties
Appomattox - Buckingham - Campbell - Franklin - Henry - Patrick - Pittsylvania - Martinsville

 

[DDancer]

Oh I see it Shaman hehh. Now you have to identify which of those regions your getting your finds from. The use of a geologic map in conjunction with a topographic map will help narrow down your mineral associations. Your area is pretty much metamorphic so quartz being a primary mineral will be present in all locations. While your on the mountain take note of where changes are occurring between the various layers to further isolate what can be expected. Fork Mountian looks to be a complex one, much like most of Appalachia, so I cant give you an easy answer to the original question.
I'd be on the look out for combinations of quartz crystal and feldspar/mica combinations for indications of more desirable gems *my desires* like tourmaline and corundum and garnet. If kyanite is present the possibilities of gems increase according to what I'm reading.
Gonna have to flog that mountain like a billy goat though.

 

[shaman15771]

You see why I'm confused! Thank you so much DD, you've been as usual a lot of help!

 

[DDancer]

*shrugs* Not much help really as its confusing for me as well Shaman I'd really have to be boots on the ground to help much in this instance but I do hope you can isolate your search down a bit with the advice vague as it is. Recognizing various strata and changes in it is often difficult especially here in the east because the most prominent changes are usually covered with soil and vegetation. There's general not much exposed bed rock save in creeks or cliff faces so its important to keep an eye on the eroded materials, float, to note changes in the strata. After that its a bit of scratching and following the float to where its coming from. Just like prospecting for gold; prospecting for gems or crystals follows the same process of sampling and moving up towards the source. A good rake will help along with a sharp eye.

 

[shaman15771]

I found the survey for Virginia specifically for our area! epidote, limonite, perthite and actinolite. and microcline among others. If I remember correcting I put on picture of a piece on her a month or so ago I thought might be tourmaline and you thought it might be microcline.

 

[Eu_citzen]

The problem is, smokey quartz can form in several ways. It's basically quartz that's seen some radiation.
Knowing in what the smokey occurs in will help. Geology is a puzzle, you need most of the pieces and put them together to get a picture.

Rose quartz on the other hand occurs almost exclusevely in (granite) pegmatites and as such is associated with the same minerals as pegmatites.

 

[Mitch Dickson]

Shaman, If gems are your thing (I don't bother anymore) get a map and look a bit east of Murphy N.C. to a place in the National Forest called Buck Mountain off Hwy 64. On top of that mountain you will find a channel cut around the top about 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide in pure green to clear corrundum. Lots of float sacattered around. The CCC boys dug that out in the 30s to make grinding stones for the government. Just find a nice soft rock, sit down and bust open some float. You will find pure Ruby and Sapphire included there. If your lazy (like me) and don't mind the rattlesnakes and copperheads, just walk the creeks there at night with a low wave uv and pick them up when they floruese

Across 64 you can find banks along the roads where schist is rotting and you can stick in a shovel and get thousands of marble sized blood red garnets. Close to there around Mineral Bluff you can find fairy crosses (starolite) both 60 and 90 degree models

Kinda a waste of time so I quit going about 20 years ago. But hey, a man wants a green suit, turn on a green light