Lemon Quartz

Lemon quartz is a trade name for light yellow to yellow-green quartz (SiO₂). The material sold under this name is natural quartz whose colour has been produced by treatment: low-dose gamma irradiation followed by heating. In Brazil it is traded as Ouro Verde (Portuguese for "green gold"). Mindat lists "lemon quartz" as a synonym of citrine, but gemmological studies separate it from citrine by its colour cause and optical behaviour.

Products made with this material

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Full material guide
Material facts

What the material is, where it comes from or how it is made, identification and care, from the cited sources.

Properties

Nature Treated natural quartz
Mineral species Quartz
Chemical formula SiO₂
Color Light yellow to yellow-green
Cause of color Aluminium-related colour centres (heated, irradiated quartz)
Treatment Gamma irradiation (cobalt-60) followed by heating
Pleochroism Yellow to yellow-green

Origins & sources

Lemon quartz is made from natural quartz. Gem treater Mark Liccini, who developed the Ouro Verde process, describes irradiating quartz with a low dose of cobalt-60 gamma rays, which turns it blackish, and then heating it in several steps until a yellow colour appears. A Mindat article on quartz treatments likewise lists colourless or milky quartz turned greenish-yellow by combined irradiation and heating and sold under names such as "lemon quartz" and "oro verde".

Identification

Lemon quartz is quartz and shares its basic properties. A German Gemmological Association overview based on Henn and Schultz-Güttler (2012) classes lemon quartz as heated, irradiated smoky quartz coloured by aluminium-related colour centres; it shows pleochroism from yellow to yellow-green, whereas citrine made by heating amethyst shows no pleochroism and shows Brazil-law twinning. Mindat likewise notes that yellow quartz made by heating or irradiating smoky quartz or rock crystal is dichroic, unlike heated amethyst.

Care

The colour centres of lemon quartz are reported to be stable only up to about 200–300 °C, so keep it away from high heat.

History & culture

History

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Cultural meanings

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Traditional beliefs

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Sources

Collected Oct 23, 2026