Smoky Elestial with Enhydro Water Bubbles
Measures Approximately: 9 1/2" x 8 1/2" x 5 3/4"
Weighs Approximately: 22 lbs 15 oz
This is an amazing show crystal. It's gorgeous, big, and very dramatic.
Smoky quartz is a brown to black variety of quartz. According to current theories exposure to natural underground radiation causes trace amounts of trivalent aluminum (Al3+) to replace some of its silicon. This change in its crystal structure creates its color. The name has changed slightly over time. Many historical sources called it “smoked quartz” instead, after its resemblance to smoke cured foods. Since natural irradiated color develops slowly below certain temperatures, smoky quartz tends to be found in specific environments like higher elevations where it had time to slowly darken.
This large elestial has several inclusions:
Enhydro bubbles form inside quartz that is in a solution as it is growing. The water is trapped inside the quartz as the voids that let the water into the crystal close and seal as the crystal naturally grows. Elestial quartz can often have not just one bubble, that might be easily identified, but many. When the voids close over with water trapped within, they have various levels of air that are in the interior pocket with the water. The pockets that have a nice proportion of air to water trapped together are the easiest to identify as you can clearly see the bubble move from one area of the pocket to the other as you tip the crystal back and forth. Sometimes, the voids with water seal and trap the water without air, which makes spotting the pockets of water a task that only those with eagle eyes can notice. For every water bubble you can see, which is always very exciting, there are likely dozens of water bubbles that are too hard to identify. Some enhydro inclusions can contain other materials, bits of clay, carbon, bitumen, petroleum, even gases.
Laterite is a metal rich clay produced by the weathering of rocks in hot and wet environments. While certain components get washed away over time, less soluble ones like iron, nickel, and magnesium are concentrated instead. Laterite is typically colored red by iron oxides like hematite. The name comes from the Latin later (“brick”) since the clay is sometimes used as a building material.
Iron (Fe) included in quartz is ferruginous, colored red, yellow, or brownish orange by iron oxides like hematite and limonite. It may be natural or heated to enhance the color by reducing its water content. The name is derived from the Greek haimatoeides (“resembling blood”).