Gletschhorn smoky quartz cleft
46.6195° N, 8.4387° E · ± 10 km
Smoky quartz from Uri, Switzerland, with photos of specimens from this locality.
Minerals found here
Smoky quartz at Gletschhorn smoky quartz cleft
Historic giant Alpine smoky quartz cleft that also produced rare secondary lead minerals such as cerussite and hydrocerussite.
- Formula
- SiO₂
- Morphology
- Large single smoky quartz crystals from a cleft
- Typical size
- Largest crystal about 135 kg
- Associated minerals
- Galenacerussiteanglesitehydrocerussiteleadhillitelaumontite
- Trace elements
- Aluminium-related colour centres produced by natural irradiation (general for the variety, not locality-specific)
- History
- Historic find of 1868; many of the crystals are displayed at the Natural History Museum Bern.
Sources: SRC-130
Geology of the locality
- Setting
- Historic Alpine cleft near the Gletschhorn that yielded very large smoky quartz crystals together with lead minerals.
- Region
- Uri
- Country
- Switzerland
Coordinates are those of the Gletschhorn summit (SummitPost); Mindat only gives a rough position for the cleft, so the accuracy is district level. Status is inferred from the site being described as a historic find; it is not stated explicitly.
Sources
- SRC-130 · Database
Smoky quartz cleft, Gletschhorn, Tiefenbach, Realp, Urseren, Uri, SwitzerlandMindat.org contributors · Mindat.org - SRC-131 · Website
GletschhornSummitPost contributors · SummitPost
Draft data from the Provenite workbook. Check entries against the cited sources before relying on them. Photos are open-licence images from Wikimedia Commons; the author and licence are given with each photo.