Black Tusk Quartz

Below is a presentation of some fine mineral specimens of Quartz found in the shadows of Black Tusk Mountain;

just south of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. This has been a unique find with very limited production.

It is my privelage to be able to offer to the world these wonderful specimens of this most unique material.

Many exhibit a unique feature, in that they are covered in a thick Chlorite clay that has deeply etched the quartz in many places.

Due to the dark Chlorite coating and proximity to the famous mountain, they have been appropriately named “Black Tusk” Quartz.

The locality has produced very similiar material to the famous quartz deposits of the European Alps.

These samples are from primarily two noteworthy pockets; the Road-cut pocket and the 70^th Birthday pocket.

Both displayed exemplary specimens of Quartz and Chlorite and the Road-cut pocket also produced notable

specimens of large Calcite rhombohedrons and small tabular crystals of Albite.

If you are interested in obtaining specimens from this unique find, please follow the link for Black Tusk minerals for sale

A floater cluster of doubly-terminated 'herkimer diamonds' with chlorite inclusions. Very slight amethyst tint. 9cm tall and no damage.

Pocket Creation

Chlorite is an Iron Aluminum Magnesium Silicate Hydroxide. These Quartz crystals were originally formed in a pocket rich in Silicon Dioxide solution. Later intrusion by a Chloride bearing solution (a product of low-temperature retrograde metamorphism and possibly also of corrosive meteoric water) occurred in many pockets as a dark green, fine-grained clay. This Chlorite clay caused much of the quartz to become dulled and rounded by chemical dissolution. After the chlorite clay was deposited, continued (but limited) growth of the quartz in Silicate rich solutions continued to occur, resulting in an inclusion imparting a greenish-black color to Quartz. Chlorite-group minerals also occur as components of muddy pocket residues. Pockets with "Chloritic Quartz" typically contain Epidote that has been chemical dissolved, suggesting that the corrosion of the Epidote may have contributed to the formation of Chlorite. This is probably the case in these pockets as minute pockets containing fully formed Epidote were located nearby.

The "Black Tusk" itself; a 14cm tall daphine-twin quartz richly coated in chlorite Black Tusk 'herkimer diamonds'; penetration twin euhedral crystals.

Also known as ‘floater’ crystals, these are crystals that have formed within the Chlorite clays found within the pocket. Most likely broken off the cavity wall during some stage of crystallization, these crystals continued to grow and the broken ends became terminated or, ‘re-healed’. As a result, they have no point of attachment and are usually double terminated. Also, present was one example of a ‘faden’ style pocket crystal which probably formed from continued fracturing and re-healing. These are terminated on all sides and are also known as ‘euhedral’.

Two very nice samples of 'castle quartz' fromations; one completed included with chlorite, another un-included on an included base.

Complete floater of chlorite dusted quartz; nice euhedral formation with no damage.

This large piece (15cm) was the best piece pulled out of the "70^th Birthday Pocket" by my father Lloyd Peterson on his (you guessed it) 70^th birthday. A very nice birthday gift for him and one I know he still enjoys recalling. Nice included point growing on some etched included matrix with a 'mushroom' cap of clear quartz over one side. No damage anywhere.

Present as small clear tabular crystals in a ‘druze’ over the larger quartz masses.

'Faden' Quartz; completely euhedral with (not-visible in this picture) faden 'thread-line' through the middle. 3cm tall.