Natural and synthetic quartz growth and dissolution revealed by scanning electron microscope cathodoluminescence

Abstract

Scanning electron microscope-cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) reveals textures in quartz that are not observable using any other technique. CL textures in hydrothermal quartz reflect primary precipitation processes that are modified by subsequent dissolution, deformation, fracturing, or recrystallization. Superposition of multiple textures in individual quartz veins yields complex textures with obscure origins. To infer the processes that form complex CL textures in natural hydrothermal quartz, we analyzed samples from eighteen ore deposits of five types as well as synthetic quartz formed in three flow reactor autoclave experiments conducted at up to 500