Epidote with Quartz
La Libertad, Peru
Once you see these towering, mirror-bright green epidote crystals, you never forget them. This 2019 find from San Felipe Mountain, La Libertad, Peru, has perfect prismatic blades up to a few centimeters tall, deep pistachio-to-forest green color, glassy luster, and little explosions of water-clear quartz sprays scattered across the surface. In this video we dive into why epidote forms in metamorphic and hydrothermal environments, how ferric iron gives it that unforgettable color, and the mind-blowing reason scientists hunt for epidote on the seafloor and even on Mars!
Further exploration: