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Determination of relative growth rates of natural quartz crystals

Nature volume 404, pages 865–869 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Although the theory describing crystal growth in the geological environment is well established1,2,3, there are few quantitative studies that delimit the absolute time involved in the growth of natural crystals4,5,6. The actual mechanisms responsible for the variation in size and shape of individual crystal faces are, in fact, not well understood. Here we describe a micro-infrared spectroscopic study of a single, gem-quality quartz crystal that allows us to measure the size, shape and relative growth rate of each of the crystal faces that are active throughout its growth history. We demonstrate that the abundances of hydrogen-bearing impurities can serve as ‘speedometers’ to monitor the growth rate of advancing crystal faces. Our technique can be applied to crystals from a variety of geological environments to determine their growth histories. Within the electronics industry, the technique might facilitate the production of defect-free synthetic crystals required for high-quality resonators and, ultimately, might allow determination of the absolute time involved in geological processes such as the crystallization of magmas, fluid flow in metamorphism and the sealing of open cracks in earthquake rupture zones.

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Figure 1: Photographs of the Brazilian quartz specimen analysed in this study, showing the specimen before sectioning.
Figure 2: Sector zones are revealed through variations in hydroxyl species concentrations in the natural quartz crystal of Fig. 1.
Figure 3: Infrared absorbance along two representative traverses (indicated in Fig 2a, map A).
Figure 4: Evolution of growth rate in the Brazilian quartz specimen depicted in Figs 1 and 2.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Ague, E. Bolton and M. Davis for discussions, and E. Faller and S. Turski for providing samples used in this work. This work was supported by the Packard Foundation.

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  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, 06520-8109, Connecticut, USA

    Phillip D. Ihinger & Stephen I. Zink

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  1. Phillip D. Ihinger
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  2. Stephen I. Zink
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Correspondence to Phillip D. Ihinger.

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Ihinger, P., Zink, S. Determination of relative growth rates of natural quartz crystals. Nature 404, 865–869 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35009091

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