Trapped fluids give milky quartz its cloudy appearance.
Milky quartz is one of the most common varieties of crystalline quartz, created when tiny amounts of gas or liquid are trapped inside during crystal formation, giving it a cloudy white color. While the quartz's cloudiness prohibits optical and electronic applications, the trapped fluids give the stone an attractive luster, making it ideal for decorative purposes.
Decorative Uses
Chevron amethyst is a variety of milky quartz.
Clear quartz often is used as oscillators in radios, watches and pressure gauges, as well as silicon semiconductors for the computer industry. However, the cloudy nature of milky quartz, which is abundant and can be found almost anywhere, usually prohibits these uses and limits the stone mostly to decorative purposes (carvings, floor tiles, jewelry). An amethyst variety of milky quartz creates a banded purple stone called chevron amethyst, which is very attractive when polished.
Quartz Sand
Like all quartz, milky quartz is one of the hardest and most durable minerals, reaching seven on the Mohs scale. Quartz sand derived from milky quartz, deposited around the globe through geological processes, is resistant to both chemicals and heat, making an excellent abrasive for sandblasting, grinding glass, scouring cleansers, cutting soft gemstones and grit for sanding and sawing. Quartz sand also is used in the glass-making industry, producing container glass, flat plate glass and fiberglass.
Milky Quartz and Gold Prospecting
Gold sometimes is associated with quartz crystals, developing together with it in hydrothermal veins. Prospectors looking for gold-laden ore often seek outcrops of milky white quartz. However, gold-bearing quartz is one of the world's rarest forms of natural gold and is found in only a few locations in the world, including the Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California and parts of Alaska. It can also be hard to determine if milky quartz contains gold, due to its cloudiness, and it can take on a variety of colors, from ghostly white to pale yellow.
Spiritual and Cultural Significance
Various cultures use milky quartz in traditional rituals, including the Native Americans of the Yucatan and the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas. Evidence shows that these stones were even used for burial rites in early Irish culture. Also, like all quartz crystals, milky quartz sometimes is associated with healing and spiritual properties. Milky quartz supposedly has a harmonizing effect and, according to the New Age community, is helpful in dealing with chronic fatigue and metabolic disorders, such as diabetes. You should, however, never rely on crystal healing in place of legitimate medical treatment for serious disorders.
Tags: milky quartz, amethyst variety, amethyst variety milky, associated with, decorative purposes