Quartz Cluster

Quartz Cluster

and when exposed to the elements over a long period of time can change into the closely related malachite

From the Ordovician age

occurring in shades of blue

From the Upper Ordovician Period - Ashgill Stage - Ktaoua Formation

with color intensity usually deepest at the termination or tip of each crystal

or chemical cleaning agent

It has a very dramatic "head shield" which is often interpreted as a mechanism to help it stay on top of a soft ocean floor

Fluorite is one of the most variable of all crystalline minerals

A widespread and industrially important mineral

pyrite is an abundant sulfide mineral that despite some similarities can easily be distinguished from actual gold by its crystal form (typically cuboidal) and being much harder whereas gold is soft and malleable

so much that the local tribes people used to use these mudstones as currency in trade and other daily life

red and many other colors corresponding to their physical makeup and conditions when the mineral was formed