gems, photomicrography, inclusions, quartz, chalcedony, agate

Throughout the history of gemology, quartz has been a main target of gemological microscopists. A detailed study of the wide variety of inclusions in quartz is as complex an earth-science related mental exercise as any gemologist would ever undertake. This is not surprising, as quartz occurs in a wider range of geologic environments than any other mineral species, and the inclusions it holds testify to this. The photomicrographs, pictured here with this study, provide the reader only a glimpse at the micro-world of quartz beyond rutile.