How do the quartz crystal gems in the meditation bangle get their color?
Some crystalline minerals, such as quartz and calcite, can occur naturally in all colors. Certain colors such as blue and red occur very rarely. The presence and intensity of certain elements determines a specimen’s color. Different minerals or oxides of minerals can also create a color in a gemstone. For example, an emerald from Brazil is a beryl that’s colored green by vanadium oxide and one from Columbia is made green by trace amounts of chromium. Golden yellow citrine is quartz that has ferric impurities, but it is rarely found naturally. Ninety-nine percent of jewelry grade citrine is in fact artificially heated amethyst or smoky quartz. Brazil is the leading producer of citrine, with much of its production coming from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Though it is one of three traditional birthstones for the month of November, you can be sure that most people wearing this stone are unaware that it is cooked or radiated smoky quartz at extreme temperatures to pull out the yellow col
