Wolfsong
August 16th, 2008, 07:06 PM
I recently recieved a piece of Haystack Quartz (more on this later in the Quartz thead) from the Jeffrey Quarry in Arkansas. This is the same quarry from where we get Solution Quartz and Haystack Quartz is just a type of Solution Quartz.
Now... this Quartz grows in Rectorite which is named after a lawyer that lived in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is a jelly when in the rock fractures and the quartz grows in this jelly. That is why every crystal is double terminated unless it grew on the sandstone. When you dig the quartz out of the fractures and the rectorite hits the air it turns to what is called "Mountain Leather". It's really cool stuff but its texture and plyability reminds me more of a dried mushroom than of leather.
Rectorite is a clay mineral with a 1:1 regular interstratification of a dioctahedral Mica and a dioctahedral Smectite.
Although I got a piece of this stuff just as a curiosity and a specimen for my collection as soon as I touched it I realised it was something special. I'll post more on it as I learn from it. For now here is a pic. The 2 white boxes show 2 small Solution Quartz Crystals still embedded in the Rectorite. The sample holds several other micro-crystals as well.
82537
Now... this Quartz grows in Rectorite which is named after a lawyer that lived in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is a jelly when in the rock fractures and the quartz grows in this jelly. That is why every crystal is double terminated unless it grew on the sandstone. When you dig the quartz out of the fractures and the rectorite hits the air it turns to what is called "Mountain Leather". It's really cool stuff but its texture and plyability reminds me more of a dried mushroom than of leather.
Rectorite is a clay mineral with a 1:1 regular interstratification of a dioctahedral Mica and a dioctahedral Smectite.
Although I got a piece of this stuff just as a curiosity and a specimen for my collection as soon as I touched it I realised it was something special. I'll post more on it as I learn from it. For now here is a pic. The 2 white boxes show 2 small Solution Quartz Crystals still embedded in the Rectorite. The sample holds several other micro-crystals as well.
82537