Kingston New Mexico Quartz Crystals

Finding Starburst Quartz Crystals in the Black Range

- ROBERT BEARD

The crystals can be found in the outcrops and as loose pieces on the ground, and the top of the hill offers great views of the Black Range.

An interesting and accessible locality for starburst quartz crystals is on a steep hillside just east of Water Street in the mountains north of Kingston, New Mexico. The quartz crystals formed in a Tertiary quartz monzonite porphyry that intruded Pennsylvanian-Permian sedimentary rocks. The crystals formed in veins and vugs in silicified rocks of the porphyry. Many of the quartz crystals form a radiating “starburst” pattern with excellent terminations. The crystals are generally small and less than a half-inch long but are abundant and often occur in aggregates of hundreds of crystals. The crystals are milky white to nearly clear.

Most forms of quartz are common and of little interest to anyone, but good crystals are rare and can be of great interest to both collectors and lay people. You do not have to be an expert to appreciate the beauty of crystals. While quartz is found worldwide and in nearly every geologic environment, finding a collecting area with good quartz crystals is a challenge, as most occurrences are either on private lands, active mines, protected areas, or in areas that are so remote that for all practical purposes, they are inaccessible. The Kingston quartz crystal locality has excellent crystals and is relatively easy to access.

This rock has excellent sections of radiating white quartz crystals.

KINGSTON, NEW MEXICO