Citrine

citrine

Transparent, coarse-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz. Citrine is a semiprecious gem that is valued for its yellow to brownish colour and its resemblance to the rarer topaz. Natural citrine is rarer than amethyst or smoky quartz, both of which are often heated to change their natural colour to that of citrine. Citrine is often marketed under various names that confuse it with topaz to inflate its price; it may be distinguished from topaz by its inferior hardness. It occurs mainly in Brazil, Uruguay, the Ural Mountains, Scotland, and North Carolina.

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citrine [′si‚trēn]

(mineralogy)

An important variety of crystalline quartz, yellow to brown in color and transparent. Also known as Bohemian topaz; false topaz; quartz topaz; topaz quartz; yellow quartz.

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Citrine 

a mineral; a yellow variety of quartz (seeQUARTZ). Citrine, whose color is due to point defects of the crystal structure, is a rare mineral, occurring in Alpine-type hydrothermal quartz veins and pegmatites and sometimes in lava amygdules. In appearance it resembles topaz; it is distinguished from topaz during faceting by its weaker play of colors owing to lesser light refraction. Attractively colored translucent varieties are gems of class III. In jewelry-making, citrine is produced by heating smoky quartz or amethyst; its synthesis has also been mastered.

The chief deposits of citrine are located in Brazil, Uruguay, Madagascar, Scotland, Spain, and the United States; in the USSR the mineral is found at Murzinka in the Urals.