WeвЂ™ve also known the miners for a number of years, and they said theyвЂ™d love the quartz to be at Smithsonian,вЂќ said Post.

вЂњWe thought it would be special to have such an iconic quartz at the front of the museum. Post and Farfan first encountered the quartz in 2020, recognizing its value both as a specimen in the museumвЂ™s National Gem and Minerals Collection and as an object to interest museumgoers in the wonder of the natural world. Now, the quartz is on display as beautiful museum specimen and an educational testament to EarthвЂ™s geologic process When Farfan and Post first saw the Berns Quartz in 2020, they immediately saw its value as a museum specimen.

Afterwards, the mountains began to erode, exposing once deeply buried veins of Arkansas crystals, like the Berns Quartz. The events making the Ouachita Mountains stopped roughly 200 million years ago. вЂњUnderstanding the temperature, chemistry, and pressure conditions that it takes to grow these quartz crystals can help inform us about the geological context of a region at the time of crystal formation, and vice versa,вЂќ said Farfan. Their shape comes from how their atomic building blocks, silicon and oxygen, lock into precise, repeating arrangements. Quartz crystals look like hexagonal prisms that culminate in a point. вЂњQuartz crystals grew in these fractures.вЂќ вЂњThe overlying pressure from the resulting mountain of rocks squeezed hot silicon-rich water from the buried sandstone into deep cracks that were two miles beneath the surface,вЂќ said Post. They were shoved up around 300 million years ago when the South American continent crashed against its North American counterpart, buckling up layers of oceanic sandstone. In the United States, ArkansasвЂ™ Ouachita Mountains are a hotbed for quartz. Whitney curator of gems and minerals at the museum.ДЄll quartz have six sides and end in a point, like pencils, thanks to the how their atoms, silicon and oxygen, lock in place. At the national museum, this is the perfect specimen to share with visitors because itвЂ™s a classic example of an American mineral,вЂќ said Gabriela Farfan, an environmental mineralogist and Coralyn W.

вЂњThere are very few places around the world where you get this quality of clear quartz, especially in such a large cluster. The hefty and glittering mass of crystals, called the Berns Quartz after its donors, was originally discovered at the Coleman Mine in Arkansas in 2016. It may even be one of the heaviest specimens we have,вЂќ said Jeffrey Post, mineralogist and curator-in-charge of gems and minerals at the museum. вЂњThis is the largest piece of quartz we have in our museum. In its synthetic form, itвЂ™s a key ingredient in watches, radios and other electronics.ДЄlthough quartz is everywhere, an 8,000-pound slab of natural quartz is rare to come by - unless itвЂ™s the one now on display at the SmithsonianвЂ™s National Museum of Natural History. In its natural form, it is the second most common mineral in EarthвЂ™s crust and its varieties include amethyst and citrine gems. It was found in an Arkansas mine in 2016, making it a quintessential American mineral specimen.ДЇrom sandstone to gemstones, quartz is everywhere. The museumвЂ™s new natural quartz weighs a whopping 8,000 pounds.

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