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Pink Quartzite ("KWARTZ-ite")

		In our area, pink quartzite is used as both a decorative landscape stone (called "Tiffany Pink" and "Pink Starburst") and as gravel under railroad tracks. To learn more about pink quartzite, scroll farther down this page.

	How to recognize pink quartzite
	Other rocks that look like pink quartzite
	Where pink quartzite came from
	How pink quartzite formed
	Other names for pink quartzite
	Links to Web sites about pink quartzite

How to recognize pink quartzite

	This rock is mostly pink in color, although some pieces may also be reddish, gray, or tan.
	Its grains (when you can see them) are usually sand-sized bits of quartz.
	The sand grains are so thoroughly cemented with that the rock breaks through the grains of sand as easily as around them. (Sandstone breaks around the grains.)
	You cannot scratch quartzite with a nail or knife. However, you may rub off a few loose sand grains. (See more about the scratch test.)
	Quartzite made almost entirely of the mineral quartz.

Other rocks that look like pink quartzite

Red granite:

	Red granite is also pink or reddish in color and hard to scratch.
	However, red granite is made of several kinds of minerals. It has crystals of pink or reddish feldspar crystals, grayish or purplish quartz, and sometimes flecks of mica or darker minerals.

Pegmatite:

	Pegmatite is often pinkish in color, and most pieces are hard to scratch.
	Like granite, pegmatite is also made of several types of minerals: pinkish feldspar, whitish quartz, and silvery mica.
	Pegmatite crystals are much larger than quartzite or granite crystals (often bigger than your fingernail!)

Saprolite:

	Saprolite is also reddish in color, and freshly broken surfaces may be hard to scratch.
	Saprolite is weathered granite. Like granite, it has crystals of pink or reddish feldspar crystals, grayish or purplish quartz, and sometimes flecks of mica or darker minerals.

Where pink quartzite came from

We've seen similar pink quartzite in western Minnesota
and eastern South Dakota. They quarry it, crush it, and
use it to make asphalt for roads. (Many highways in that
area are pink!) The geologic name for this rock is
"Sioux Quartzite" (named for a Native American group
that lived in that area.)

So, we're wondering if our pink quartzite was also quarried
in that area, then shipped to Chicago by train or truck.

How pink quartzite formed

Pink quartzite was originally a sandstone, made of grains
of quartz sand cemented into rock. This rock was later
altered by heat and pressure, which sealed the grains even
more tightly together, changing it into much tougher quartzite
rock.

Other names for pink quartzite

We use the scientific name "quartzite" for this rock,
but it is also known by other names:

We've seen 50-pound bags of pink quartzite gravel labeled "Tiffany Pink" and "Pink Starburst."

Here are some ways to classify quartzite (by grouping it with similar types of rocks):

	Quartzite is a metamorphic rock, because it was changed by heat and pressure from one rock type into another.
	Quartzite is sometimes classified as a meta-sedimentary rock, because it was originally a sedimentary rock.

Links to Web sites about pink quartzite

Minnesota Geological Survey Virtual Egg Carton shows a
sample of pinkish Sioux Quartzite from southwest Minnesota.
(We think that our pink quartzite may come from that part of
the United States.
< http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/virt_egg/qtzite.htm >

The Quartzite Rock Association advocates for the use of
Sioux Quartzite in road and building construction. (Their
homepage shows a picture of a quartzite quarry.)
< http://www.quartzite.com/index.htm >

The Stone Age Reference Collection Web site discusses
quartzite as a raw material for making stone tools.
< http://www.hf.uio.no/iakk/roger/lithic/quartzite.html >

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This page was created on May 2, 2001, and it was last updated on July 27, 2002.