mineral

Quartz Vein in Sedimentary Rock

Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) with host Chert or Limestone

Hardness: 7 (quartz) / 3-4 (matrix). Color: white to creamy tan. Luster: vitreous (crystals) to dull (matrix). Structure: crystalline quartz seam within a fine-grained sedimentary bed. Specific gravity: approx. 2.65.

Hardness: 7 (quartz) / 3-4 (matrix)
Color: white to creamy tan
Luster: vitreous (crystals) to dull (matrix)

Identified April 13, 2026More mineral →

Identify your own rocks.

Get a report just like this from any photo, free.

App Store Google Play

Physical properties

Formation & geological history

Formed through hydrothermal precipitation where silica-rich fluids filled fractures or voids in sedimentary host rock. This usually occurs during late-stage burial or tectonic activity.

Uses & applications

Primarily of interest to amateur collectors and geologists as a representative specimen of mineral mineralization within host rocks.

Geological facts

Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust after feldspar. These 'seams' are common and show how fluids move through the earth's subsurface over millions of years.

Field identification & locations

Identify by checking for a crystalline 'sandwich' layer. If the crystal part scratches glass but the outer rock doesn't, it is a quartz vein in a softer matrix like limestone or weathered chert.

Other mineral specimens

See all

Sandstone (with potential mineral staining/concretions)

Arenite (SiO2 based)

sedimentary

Schist

Metamorphic

Epidote

Epidote | Ca2(Al2,Fe3+)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH)

metamorphic

Nephrite Jade

Nephrite

Mineral/Rock

Banded Gneiss (River Rock/Pebble)

Gneiss (specifically a banded variety often found as a river rock)

Metamorphic Rock

Green Apatite on Albite

Fluorapatite [Ca5(PO4)3F] on Albite [Na(AlSi3O8)]

mineral