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View submission: Why does quartz come in so many different shapes and colors?
Not just primary impurities (that is, irregular material present at the time of crystallization) but, in the case of smoky quartz, metamictization. Basically anything that interrupts the ordinary lattice arrangement for a given mineral will change its color or optical properties. In the case of smoky quartz, the discoloration is caused by free silica released by irradiation of the SiO2 parent material.
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