Good groups of pale amethyst crystals have been found in quartz veins
near the old town site of Oxford, Llano County. The occurrence seems to
be much the same as the Amethyst Hill locality. Little exploration for
gemstones has been done in this area, and future discoveries seem
likely.
Chalcedony geodes lined with amethyst crystals have been found in
Brewster, Presidio, Culberson, and Hudspeth counties, but the
occurrences are scattered. The crystals are seldom large enough to yield
gems of more than 3 carats and are mostly very light colored.
A few pieces of gem-quality amethyst have been found in Burnet County.
_Citrine_ (yellow quartz).—Very little gem-quality citrine has been
reported in Texas. Some small citrine crystals have been found at
Amethyst Hill in northeastern Gillespie County, but few are of
sufficient size or color to yield good gems.
The writer has seen one citrine crystal that was found in the gravels of
a small stream in eastern Llano County near Buchanan Dam. The crystal
weighs about 1 ounce and is perfectly clear, light golden yellow, and
flawless. However, a further search of the stream gravels failed to
produce any other citrines.
_Rock crystal_ (colorless quartz).—Numerous localities in Texas produce
this colorless variety of quartz, which is the most common variety of
facet quality quartz and consequently is of little value.
Rock crystal occurs at many localities in Burnet, Llano, and Mason
counties. The crystals mostly occur in pegmatite dikes or in stream
gravels where they have been weathered out of their parent rock. Some
fine colorless quartz crystals have been found near Voca, Mason County,
in weathered pegmatite dikes and also loose in the sands of nearby
streams. Crystals from this locality are often stained with reddish iron
oxide on their outer surfaces. Some of the rock crystal found near
Katemcy, Mason County, shows asterism when cut with the proper
orientation. Fine clear colorless crystals up to 8 inches long have been
found in the pegmatite dikes near Lake Buchanan in both Llano and Burnet
counties. Several localities near Enchanted Rock in Llano County have
also produced some good colorless crystals.
Feldspar quarries in large pegmatites in northeastern Gillespie County
have yielded attractive quartz crystals, some of which contain smoky
phantom crystals and tourmaline inclusions.
Some pieces of rock crystal enclosing green, needle-like actinolite
crystals have been found near the Llano-Gillespie-Blanco County corner.
This material is not suitable for faceted gems but does lend itself to
interesting and attractive cabochons.
Colorless quartz crystals commonly are found lining small chalcedony
geodes in Brewster, Presidio, Culberson, Hudspeth, Reeves, and Jeff
Davis counties. These crystals are most commonly less than 1 inch long
but are mostly very clear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account