Tourmalinated Quartz

Schorl is associated with granitic pegmatites and metamorphic rocks, where it occurs together with micas, feldspars and quartz (Amethyst Galleries). The Quartz Page illustrates smoky quartz with scattered schorl needles from a granitic cavity in the western Erongo Mountains, Namibia, and IGS shows a cut pair of tourmalinated quartz from Brazil; the retailer Pascle names Brazil as the main source.

Schorl forms black, opaque, arrow-straight prisms with a triangular cross-section and lengthwise striations (Amethyst Galleries). IGS warns that long, thin black needles in quartz are often mistaken for rutile but are actually tourmaline, and ICA contrasts the golden rutile needles of rutilated quartz with the black or dark green tourmaline crystals of tourmalinated quartz. The retailer Pascle notes that the two are hard to tell apart with the naked eye and that much material sold as black rutile quartz is tourmalinated quartz.

IGS lists no special care instructions for quartz. The retailer Pascle advises not leaving it wet and wiping it gently with a soft cloth when dirty.

The retailer Pascle says tourmalinated quartz is traditionally said to strengthen a person's latent power, patience and mental strength, and that it is regarded as a charm against evil, noting that black tourmaline has long been used in prayer rituals. These are retailer beliefs, not verified properties.