Hello everybody,
it's been a while since my last post; work did not allowed much of outdoors adventures in Cyprus mountains, but now it is time to share with you some of the beautiful Quartz crystals that i found -to my surprize- on the eastern side of Troodos mountains! Specifically, specimens come from the area of Lythrodontas-Delikipos upper pillow lavas, an area less explored (even by geologists) and is therefore a ''dark zone" in the geological description of Cyprus. The area is characterized by a massive iron oxide deposition (hematite, goethite and limonite), along with Quartz, as a "partner" mineral. Sometimes, crystallized goethite pseudomorphs (after pyrite) are present too. But enough with discussions, hope you enjoy!!
One of the most beautiful features of eastern side of Troodos mountains is the formation of small separate hills just before Olympus, something that gives a totally different perspective of the landscape that lies in front of you (reminds me a bit of the Halong bay in Vietnam, in which case ofcourse the limestone hills emerge from the sea!)...
Distant Landscape (Upper Pillow Lava Hill Formations)
Distant Landscape from a different angle
I always enjoy walking on these cliffs, often exploring for minerals, when i noticed a huge Quartz vein that emerged due to recent road constructions in the area. I was informed that the roads could be used for the fire trucks to be able to operate in the unfortunate event of a fire.. Luckily enough, Cypriot workers are nearly never interested for anything shiny, so the Quartz vein remained intact! So i started digging the vein, where my first crystal popped up immediately:
I was quite excited with this discovery; it was my first time digging some Quartz crystals in a village where you only expect Zeolite crystallization (stilbite, heulandite etc.). This type of Quatz is called "stalactitic Quartz", since the hydrothermal deposition was done like in the cave stalactite case: water droplets continue to form crystals one above the other!
Not much later, i came into my second piece, which actually amazed me:
Later on, i found the following beautiful pieces: Enjoy!
Different angle!
Another beautiful stalactite Quartz!
Huge rock filled with Quartz crystals
A table filled with Quartz!
To my surprise, i also found some cubic Quartz crystals, something extremely rare. Actually, Quartz has replaced another mineral (maybe goethite):
Cubic Quartz crystals (pseudomorphs)
Quartz crystals with goethite (black lines)
Quartz crystals with oxides
Thank you all,
George K.
Beautiful Quartz crystals from Cyprus island
Re: Beautiful Quartz crystals from Cyprus island
Fabulous pictures, thank you for sharing them, one day when I get time I would love to get into this amazing hobby.
Re: Beautiful Quartz crystals from Cyprus island
Thank you!! It Just needs some love, thats all! All the Best!
Re: Beautiful Quartz crystals from Cyprus island
Thank you for this post - very enjoyable reading and seeing the photos.
I will definitely be getting out and about to look for myself now !
I will definitely be getting out and about to look for myself now !