Quartz is an aesthetically pleasing and affordable mineral that you can find if you know where to search.
It is one of the most abundant minerals on the earth’s surface.
We have prepared a guide on how to find quartz crystals to help you find the best crystal that area can offer.
How to Find Quartz Crystal?
You can find quartz crystals in many places on the earth’s surface because it is an abundant mineral. You could have found quartz crystals in your backyard also.
Most people do not recognize these crystals because they can take many forms and colors. People are only looking for transparent, shiny, and aesthetically pleasing crystals.
You need to learn to identify the quartz crystals. It is also crucial to list places to find these crystals. If you master both aspects of the quartz crystal search, you can find them every day.
Related Article: Where to Find Crystals?
Where to Look for Natural Quartz Crystals?
Most of the quartz crystals places are free of cost because you can find these crystals in your backyard. Some require permission from the owner of the land.
You need to get permission from the landowner to explore the old mine tailings. Some places have commercialized the quartz finding activity.
You need to pay when you go to the pay-to-dig sites to find quartz crystals. You can find a perfect piece of quartz if you know how to identify it.
Several locations near you are excellent opportunities for finding quartz crystals. We have listed the best places to find quartz crystals below.
- Old Mine Tailings
- Mineral Veins
- Your Own Backyard
- Crystal Pockets in the Soil
- Pay-to-Dig Sites
- Local Rock Shops
- Rock Climbing Walls
- Roadside Cutouts
1. Old Mine Tailings
Finding an old mine trailing can be the hard part of this search. Finding quartz crystals in the debris of the mine trailings is easy.
Mineworkers have done the hard work for you by removing the rocks from the deep parts of the earth’s surface. They use heavy machines and dynamites to break stones.
You must ask for permission before you enter the old mine tailings. It is better to avoid an embarrassing situation as some landowners do not like trespassers.
Most experts recommend staying on the ground as going in the mineshaft can be dangerous. Shafts are usually unstable as they can collapse on you. You can search through the debris to find the perfect quartz crystal.
2. Mineral Veins
Finding the mineral veins is not easy because they are present inside the rocks. Mineral veins are available in all parts of the world. There are many signs of mineral vein availability in an area.
You can look for little quartz crystals along the canals coming from the mountain. If there are little quartz crystals there, you can follow the water upstream to find the location of the mineral vein.
Extracting the crystals from the mineral vein is difficult because they are present deep in the rock. It requires heavy-duty breaking tools to get the quartz out of the mineral vein.
Most people look for the crystals that fell nearby as it is enough for the collectors.
3. Your Own Backyard
Most people do not believe that they can find quartz crystals in their backyard. There are many reasons for this disbelief.
Most people do not get these crystals in the backyard because they did not try. If you have some gravel in your backyard, you can find many shiny stones in it. These can be quartz crystals.
If you do not have gravel accumulations, you need to dig to find these crystals. You can also go to the backyard of your friend’s house if they have gravel.
Finding quartz crystals in the gravel accumulations is an easy task. You can find a few pieces within a few minutes.
Related Article: Organizing Your Mineral Collection
4. Crystal Pockets in the Soil
If you find a quartz crystal without the presence of rock, you may find a crystal pocket. It is possible to find these pockets by digging.
You can start the search by looking for more crystals uphill. If you find some more, you can initiate the process. You need to dig to find more crystals.
You need to dig in all directions will you find more crystals. Once you find more crystals, you can change the direction of digging towards the newly found crystals.
You may end up finding a crystal pocket that can contain large quartz crystals. Digging to find the crystal pocket is a challenging task. Once you find the pocket, it is easy to collect crystals.
5. Pay-to-Dig Sites
Pay-to-dig sites are for the people who tried all other places but did not find the perfect quartz crystal they want. You can find many of these sites all over the world.
It is easy to find these sites in the United States because many old quartz mines give you a chance to pay a small fee and dig to find the quartz crystals.
They will also give equipment for digging and breaking rocks. Most people find their first quartz crystal on pay-to-dig sites.
If you are lucky, you can get a large crystal with both pointy ends if you are lucky. Most people go out of these sites with a quartz crystal in their hands.
Related Article: Where to Find Rocks?
6. Local Rock Shops
If you want to add a quartz crystal to your rock collection and do not want to dig for the rock, you can go to the local rock shops.
There are many benefits of buying quartz crystals from these shops. You will get a clean piece of crystal without any effort. If you dig one from the ground, you need to clean it yourself.
People are not concerned about the rock and dirt as you can clean them easily. If the crystal has iron stains, you need to use harsh chemicals to remove the stain.
When you buy from the shop, you will save yourself from all these problems. You can choose from the collection of crystals in the shop. You can get a crystal that matches your style.
7. Rock Climbing Walls
You can find the quartz crystals on the rock climbing walls if you know the technique. You can check the rocks in the area to look for tiny crystals.
If you find some crystals in the rocks, you need to find the source. Most people take stones from the climbing walls and use them for building walls.
This trend is prevalent in hilly areas. If you can find crystals on the walls of the houses, you can also look for their source.
Once you find the source, you can go to the rock climbing wall and climb to find the rocks embedded in the stone. If you are looking for smoky quartz crystals, you need to look for the stones that can form these crystals.
You can also ask locals if they saw a specific type of rock in the area. It will help you find the source.
Watch these two-part series (part 1 and part 2) by Petzl, where they present the rock climber Dave Graham in search of crystals while rock climbing. Yes, rock climbers collect crystals and rocks as they are always near rocks where minerals, crystals, and cool rocks are formed.
8. Roadside Cutouts
Builders dig a long area to make rocks. Some mineral veins can come in the way of the roads. Workers use machines to break these mineral veins also.
When they make the road, the debris from these mineral veins is left at the side of the road. You can walk along the road to find the quartz crystals.
Most people are surprised when they find a perfect crystal at the roadside cutouts. Many quartz crystals are available at the roadside cutouts.
They are waiting for someone to come and claim them. You can pick them up and use them as you want.
What Are Quartz Crystals?
Quartz crystals are a type of mineral. They form with the combination of silicon and oxygen. It has one silicon and two oxygen atoms in one molecule.
All the molecules of silicon dioxide link together to make a crystalline form. We write the quartz formula as SiO2, but every silicon does not have two oxygen atoms only.
One oxygen atom is attached to the two silicon atoms, and one silicon atom is attached to the four oxygen atoms to make a chain.
It forms a tetrahedral structure responsible for the aesthetic properties of quartz. It is also crucial to know that quartz crystals form when silicon dioxide molecules fuse at more than a thousand degrees celsius.
It also indicated that these crystals come from the deep parts of the earth. Earth has a high temperature at the deeper locations.
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What Are Different Types of Quartz Crystals and What Do They Look Like?
The different types of quartz crystals are Geodes, Amethyst Quartz Crystals, Clear Quartz, Smoky Quartz, Crystal Clusters, and Rose Quartz.
Geodes Quartz Crystals
Geodes are the peculiar rock formations with crystals embedded in the round rocks making a mesmerizing structure. Most of these rocks have clear quartz crystals.
You can also get purple crystals in these stones. Sometimes, you can find geodes with the crystals inside the rock. It is pleasing to see such an excellent structure.
You cannot see the crystals from the outer parts of the geode. You can crack it to see the internal side. Geodes appear when a volcano erupts and produce hollow rocks.
When these rocks contact the water, minerals deposit inside them. Minerals will keep depositing in the geode till a crystalline pattern forms.
Water can enter and evaporate many times to deposit the minerals leading to the geodes formation.
Amethyst Quartz Crystals
If you want to observe the crystal structure of quartz, you can get the amethyst quartz crystals. There is no need for the microscopes to see the crystal structure in this case.
You can see it with the naked eyes because the impurities make the crystal structure visible. These are shiny crystals in purple color.
This color is due to the metal impurities in the crystal. Iron and copper can produce a purple color. The color comes when the metal atoms absorb the light of a specific light wavelength.
Quartz crystals do not differentiate in the light absorption; hence the color is due to metal impurities only.
Clear Quartz
There are different forms of clear quartz crystals. You can find it in the form of the rose, dendritic, and citrine crystals. The most noticeable feature of these crystals is their clarity.
You can see through the clear quartz crystals as they are transparent. Most crystals face irregular coloring issues due to the deposition of the body oils.
You do not have to worry about these crystals getting dull because they are transparent. It is perfect for jewelry because of its luster.
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Smoky Quartz
Smoky quartz crystals form at a temperature higher than most clear quartz crystals. Smoky quartz has free silicon that imparts a black or brown color to the quartz.
High temperature is the reason for the free silicon in these crystals. You can find them near the volcanic eruption sites.
People like smoky crystal because they can use it in the evening party jewelry or as a part of the dresses. The silicone in these crystals does not come from the outside.
When these crystals are heated, some of the silicon gets free from the oxygen and deposit in the crystals.
Crystal Clusters
Crystal clusters are the most sought-after crystals for all collectors. It is unique because of its shape. These crystals form when more than one crystals form on the same base.
Many crystal arms can grow in the upward direction from the base rock. People use these crystals for meditation and healing because they believe that cluster crystals connect them with nature.
Most believe that the crystals can give positive energy by absorbing the negative energy. You can get these crystals in different colors.
One crystal cluster can have peculiar colored minerals. You need to pay a premium price if you buy them from a gem store.
Rose Quartz
Most people like the rose quartz crystal because of its pink color. Many jewelry makers use it in their masterpieces because of its beauty.
It is an abundant crystal that you can find on all continents. The color can range from white to dark pink. There are some crystals in this class that have a raspberry color.
The pink color is due to Vanadium impurities. Vanadium is an element that can absorb all the spectrum of visible light except pink.
It is due to the specific election arrangement of the atoms in this substance. People are willing to pay a high price for perfect rose quartz that they can use in their jewelry.