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Quartz in Schist: Key Features

Quartz is a common rock-forming mineral found in granites, pelites, sandstones, and quartzites. It is usually colorless and has no cleavage, low relief, and low order interference colors when viewed through a thin section under crossed polars. Quartz can be distinguished from other minerals like plagioclase and K-feldspar by its lack of alteration, cleavage, and twinning. It is also a very stable mineral that commonly forms veins and contains fluid inclusion trails.

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114 views4 pages

Quartz in Schist: Key Features

Quartz is a common rock-forming mineral found in granites, pelites, sandstones, and quartzites. It is usually colorless and has no cleavage, low relief, and low order interference colors when viewed through a thin section under crossed polars. Quartz can be distinguished from other minerals like plagioclase and K-feldspar by its lack of alteration, cleavage, and twinning. It is also a very stable mineral that commonly forms veins and contains fluid inclusion trails.

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vasokosm
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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22/5/13

Quartz

Return to introduction

Quartz
Mineral structure: Framework silicate Common mineral in Granites, Pelites (Schists, Gneisses), Sandstones, Quartzites Rock-forming minerals associated with Quartz: Plagioclase, K-Feldspar, Muscovite, Biotite

Quartz in schist
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Note: low relief and low order interference colours, quartz appears as a background colourless mineral with the analyser out. Key optical features of quartz in thin section: Colourless (clear and unaltered) No cleavage Low relief Low order interference colours may show strained extinction No preferred crystal shape Common minerals that might be confused with quartz and occur in similar rocks: Plagioclase and K-Feldspar (commonly twinned, commonly slightly altered), Calcite (High relief, high interference colours, twinned, cleavage)

Polycrystalline chert (fine grained quartz) clast in conglomerate


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web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~minerals/Quartz.htm

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Quartz

Lack of alteration in comparison to plagioclase


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Quartz has no alteration products very stable mineral. But is commonly found in veins, develops quartz overgrowths and often contains lines of fluid inclusions trapped on annealed fractures. Analyser out

Note: contrast with dusty alteration of feldspar

Trails of fluid inclusions in quartz


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web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~minerals/Quartz.htm

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Quartz

Note: Small vapour bubbles within high magnification inclusions

Quartz shape
Interstitial quartz in granite Analyser out Analyser in

Note: Late crystallisation of quartz filling gaps between early plagioclase and amphibole Rounded detrital quartz grains with overgrowths in sandstone Analyser out Analyser in

Note:Overgrowths in crystallographic continuity with host grain

Metamorphic recrystallised quartz


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Quartz

Note: Granoblastic texture with relatively straight grain boundaries meeting at ca. 120 o

Quartz strained extinction and recrystallisation


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Note: Strained quartz (left hand images) individual subgrains of the mineral lattice are rotated into slightly different orientations. Adjacent images (right hand images) quartz is largely unstrained and composed of smaller individual recrystallised grains. Take the Quartz test Return to top Return to introduction

web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~minerals/Quartz.htm

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