Natural crystals can be found in many U.S. locations.
As children, humans tend to have eyes like those of a crow: the sparkly things in nature tend to draw our attention and avarice. Adults retain the childlike wonder they experience when viewing crystals, even after seeing them a thousand times. A crystal is unique in and of itself, like snowflakes. No two seem to be clones of one another. While many precious gemstones are mined thousands of miles away, several common crystals can be found in the United States, in states such as North Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
Quartz
The various forms of quartz are the second most abundant mineral on earth. Quartz is a semi-precious crystal in any of its forms. The many different quartz types found in the U.S. include rock crystal (or clear quartz), citrine, amethyst, rose quartz, smoky and milky quartz, tiger's eye, carnelian, jasper, onyx, and agate. All of these gemstones can be found in one or more states in the U.S., such as South Dakota for agate or North Carolina for citrine. Some have even become state gemstones officially or unofficially over the years, such as star blue quartz in Alabama and agate in Louisiana.
Hematite
Found mostly in the wide swaths of iron ore that cover the planet, hematite is the principal component found in iron-work. Like quartz, hematite comes in several notable forms that range in color from silver, to black, to brown, to red. The latter is where it gets its name, as "hematite" has the root word for blood in it. Some forms of hematite include bloodstone, tiger iron, kidney ore, olithic hematite, specularite, and the beautiful hematite rose. The biggest mine for this crystal is at the border of the U.S. and Canada near Lake Superior.
Beryls
The beryl family of crystals includes the precious emerald, the lovely aquamarine, clear goshenite, rare red bixbite, pink morganite and yellow heliodore. Beryls are found in granitic pegmatites, mica schists, and limestone depending on where it is in the world. Beryls are colorless naturally; however, because they can soak up things such as iron, they often procure different hues. Goshenite is named after where it was found, in Goshen, Massachusetts. Rarest of all is the red beryl, bixbite, which is only found in the U.S. in Utah. According to the Utah Geological Survey, bixbite is rarer than diamonds, and worth more than 1,000 times gold. The most common forms are the golden beryls, and they are mined in many places worldwide.
Turquoise
Though found in more than just the United States, turquoise has been associated with the Native American cultures of the Southwest for centuries. The U.S. is the leader in turquoise production even today. States where mining continues include Arizona, California, Colorado and Nevada. New Mexico once led the way in turquoise production, but has since stopped. The stones still exist, but commercial mining has ceased in that state. Turquoise is so common because it is literally a by-product of copper veins in the semi-arid, arid and desert parts of the earth, and copper is a prolific metal.
Tags: , found more, more than, North Carolina, states such, turquoise production