![]() Temperatures hovered consistently around a steamy 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), and the cave was filled with mineral-rich water that drove the crystals' growth. In the new issue of the journal Geology, García-Ruiz reports that for millennia the crystals thrived in the cave's extremely rare and stable natural environment. How did the crystals reach such superheroic proportions? Ī sort of south-of-the-border Fortress of Solitude, Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals-translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet (11 meters). “We hope the quartz will inspire a sense of awe in people and excite them to learn more about the world that we all live on.Geologist Juan Manuel García-Ruiz calls it "the Sistine Chapel of crystals," but Superman could call it home. “What could be a more appropriate thing to see when you first walk into the museum than this major mineral specimen that represents one of the basic building blocks of our Earth,” said Post. Visitors who stop by can learn more about the mine where it was found and watch an educational video about the quartz’s geologic history. Now, at last, the Berns Quartz is on display inside the museum’s Constitution Avenue entrance. We were lucky to have Michael and Tricia Berns step in.” “But we knew if we were to acquire it, it would have to be with the help of donors. We’ve also known the miners for a number of years, and they said they’d love the quartz to be at Smithsonian,” said Post. “We 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 museum’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 Earth’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. “Understanding 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,” 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. “Quartz crystals grew in these fractures.” “The 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,” 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, Arkansas’ Ouachita Mountains are a hotbed for quartz. Whitney curator of gems and minerals at the museum.Īll 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 it’s a classic example of an American mineral,” said Gabriela Farfan, an environmental mineralogist and Coralyn W. ![]() “There 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,” said Jeffrey Post, mineralogist and curator-in-charge of gems and minerals at the museum. “This is the largest piece of quartz we have in our museum. In its synthetic form, it’s a key ingredient in watches, radios and other electronics.Īlthough quartz is everywhere, an 8,000-pound slab of natural quartz is rare to come by - unless it’s the one now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. In its natural form, it is the second most common mineral in Earth’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.įrom sandstone to gemstones, quartz is everywhere. The museum’s new natural quartz weighs a whopping 8,000 pounds.
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