Milky Quartz, Meaning, Properties, and Facts

What is milky quartz

Milky quartz is quartz full of fluid inclusions: microscopic pockets of water, and sometimes carbon dioxide gas, sealed inside as the crystal grew. Each pocket bends and scatters light, and millions of them turn the stone white. It is the most common variety of quartz, and many milky quartz crystals turn clear toward the tip, where growth conditions changed and fewer fluids were trapped.

Milky quartz properties

Milky quartz properties are those of all quartz, and only the inclusions differ (data on Mindat's quartz page):

Where milky quartz is found

Milky quartz is found worldwide, most often in hydrothermal veins, where hot water moving through cracks deposited silica. Those veins often carry metal ores, and prospectors have long followed white quartz veins to gold and silver. Colorado's San Juan Mountains are laced with them; see the Colorado crystals and collecting hub for more local geology.

Snow quartz and white quartz

Snow quartz and white quartz are names for the same thing: milky quartz, especially the massive kind without crystal faces. Snow quartz is usually sold tumbled or carved, while milky quartz crystals and clusters keep their points. White quartzite, a metamorphic rock made of fused quartz sand, can look similar, but it is a grainy rock rather than one solid mass of quartz. Milky quartz and clear quartz are the same mineral at different inclusion levels, and smoky quartz is what natural radiation does to quartz that holds a little aluminum.

How to tell if milky quartz is real

How to tell if milky quartz is real is rarely about fakes, since it is too common to be worth faking, so the real question is which white mineral you have. Milky quartz scratches glass. White calcite is a 3 on the Mohs scale, breaks into rhomb-shaped pieces and fizzes in dilute acid. Howlite is soft and chalky and is often dyed to imitate turquoise. White glass shows round bubbles under a loupe, and resin feels warm and noticeably lighter than quartz in the hand.

Milky quartz care: water and sun

Milky quartz care is about as simple as crystal care gets: it is a 7 on the Mohs scale, it is water safe and it will not fade in sunlight. Dust it with a soft brush, and rinse it in plain water when it needs more.

Milky quartz meaning

Milky quartz meaning, in crystal lore, is calm and fresh starts, and snow quartz meaning and white quartz meaning follow the same script. That is belief, not chemistry. The history is practical: people shaped quartz into stone tools where flint was scarce, and miners called the white vein quartz around their ore gangue, the rock they had to move to reach the metal.

Milky quartz cluster for sale

Milky quartz cluster for sale in the current drop: one milky quartz cluster from San Juan County, Colorado, stubby white points on a shared base, photographed in daylight exactly as it ships. Other quartz pieces are in the quartz shop.

Milky Quartz FAQ

What makes milky quartz white?

What makes milky quartz white is millions of microscopic fluid inclusions that scatter light instead of letting it pass straight through.

Is milky quartz rare?

Milky quartz is not rare: it is the most common variety of quartz, so crystal form and a known locality matter more than the mineral.

Is snow quartz the same as milky quartz?

Snow quartz is the same as milky quartz, usually the massive kind without crystal faces, sold tumbled or carved.

Is milky quartz water safe?

Milky quartz is water safe and sun safe: it is 7 on the Mohs scale and does not dissolve or fade.

Where is milky quartz found in Colorado?

Milky quartz is found in Colorado in mining districts across the mountains, including the old gold and silver country of the San Juan Mountains around Silverton.

Sources

• Quartz, Mindat
• Quartz, Wikipedia