"Moganite in Quartz"

There are over 4000 minerals recognized by the International Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names, each year scientist add dozens of others. Most you will never hear of, most are insignificant, at least to rockhounds or geologists, and most are found in only one small location, usually they are extremely rare. One of these minerals which has been found is MOGANITE, and it is not rare. So then why haven't you found any, you have!

In the November issue of National Geographic, there was a small article about Princeton mineralogist Peter Heaney and Jeffrey Post head of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Mineral Sciences, learned about the new mineral from reading an obscure German scientific journal, which said the new mineral was found in Quartz from Mogan in the Canary Islands.

Heaney and Post began to study quartz in the museum's collection using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopes. It was found in almost all of the fine grained Quartz and their collection is from all over the world!! And it is in your collection too! Don't look now, because Moganite is invisible to the naked eye. Only a variation in atomic structure distinguishes the quartz crystals from that of Moganite.

Moganite indicates the presence of OIL, so in the future Moganite may help pinpoint petroleum deposits in oil exploration.

You may not be able to see it but at least you know its there, and when you introduce you next quartz specimen you can say its, it's a specimen of Moganite and Quartz.

Maybe one day you'll hear of some oil exploration using the electron and x-ray diffraction microscopes looking for one of the newest minerals MOGANITE.