3.6" Druzy Quartz on Stilbite - Maharashtra, India

Stilbite is a tectosilicate mineral of the zeolite group that is commonly found in zeolite deposits. Crystals often form flowery bowtie or hourglass-shaped structures and come in a variety of colors. Some of the most beautiful colorations are the pink or peach tints.

Quartz is the name given to silicon dioxide (SiO2) and is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. Quartz crystals generally grow in silica-rich environments--usually igneous rocks or hydrothermal environments like geothermal waters--at temperatures between 100°C and 450°C, and usually under very high pressure. In either case, crystals will precipitate as temperatures cool, just as ice gradually forms when water freezes. Quartz veins are formed when open fissures are filled with hot water during the closing stages of mountain formation: these veins can be hundreds of millions of years old.