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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Rocks & Minerals

Quartz

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/kwɔːrts/nounCommon term

In geology & earth sciences, quartz means: A hard, common mineral made of silicon dioxide (SiO2), usually clear, white or grey with a glassy lustre. It has a hardness of 7 and no cleavage.

In Turkish: kuvars

How it is used

One of the most important rock-forming minerals, found in granite, sandstone, quartzite and veins. It resists weathering, so most beach and desert sand is quartz. It breaks with a curved, shell-like (conchoidal) fracture.

Example sentences

  1. The white veins cutting through the rock are quartz.

  2. Quartz scratches glass, but calcite does not.

Common collocations

  • quartz vein
  • quartz crystal
  • quartz sand
  • milky quartz
  • mineralA naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite chemical composition and an ordered internal structure, such as quartz, calcite or feldspar.
  • graniteA light-coloured, coarse-grained igneous rock made mainly of quartz, feldspar and mica, formed when magma cools slowly deep in the crust.
  • hardnessA mineral's resistance to being scratched, measured on the Mohs scale from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond). It is one of the first tests used to identify minerals.
  • crystalA solid in which the atoms are arranged in a regular, repeating pattern, which often gives it flat faces and a typical shape.
  • cleavageThe tendency of a mineral to break along flat, smooth planes of weakness in its crystal structure. Mica splits into thin sheets because of its perfect cleavage.

More terms: Rocks & Minerals

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