Aventurine is a form of quartz that contains inclusions of small crystals that reflect light. These give a range of colors depending on the nature of inclusion. Pyrite inclusions give a brown color. Similarly, a greenish brown variety may be due to the mineral goethite. Other inclusions give bluish white, bluish green, or orange varieties.
Aventurine has been confused with aventurine feldspar, jade, and amazonite. A simulant, known as goldstone, has been made to imitate both aventurine quartz and aventurine feldspar. It contains small triangles and hexagons of copper held in glass. With a 10x hand lens it should be possible to see the outline of the copper spangles.
Some Aventurine stones are cut en cabochon to display beautiful brass yellow mica inclusions. It is common to find cryptocrystalline quartz with light-reflecting inclusions.
Occurrence
Aventurine is found in Brazil, India, Russia, the USA, Japan, and Tanzania.
Aventurine Properties
- Specific Gravity: 2.65
- Refractive Index: 1.54-1.55
- Birefringence (DR): 0.009
- Luster: Vitreous
- Crystal Structure: Trigonal
- Composition: Silicon dioxide
- Hardness: 7
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