NC Gemstones: Rose Quartz
Rose Quartz is the rosy pink variety of Quartz. Its color is usually soft, ranging from very light pink to medium pink in intensity. It is often hazy or turbid, which makes it lack good transparency. Rose Quartz is fairly common and found in many places throughout the world, and can occur in very large examples in nature. This allows exceedingly large gemstones to be cut from it. The relative abundance of Rose Quartz, and its frequent lack of full transparency, diminish its importance as a pink gemstone in relation to other pink gemstones such as and Topaz, Tourmaline, and Kunzite. Source
Rose quartz is a type of quartz which exhibits a pale pink to rose red hue. The color is usually considered as due to trace amounts of titanium, iron, or manganese, in the massive material. Some rose quartz contains microscopic rutile needles which produces an asterism in transmitted light. Recent X-ray diffraction studies suggest that the color is due to thin microscopic fibers of possibly dumortierite within the massive quartz.[14]
Additionally, there is a rare type of pink quartz (also frequently called crystalline rose quartz) with color that is thought to be caused by trace amounts of phosphate or aluminium. The color in crystals is apparently photosensitive and subject to fading. The first crystals were found in a pegmatite found near Rumford, Maine, USA and in Minas Gerais, Brazil.[15] Source
