

Amazonite is a green microcline belonging to the feldspar group. Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt gave its name in 1847, after the Amazon River. According to research it gets its color from its 1% lead content or iron. It usually issues in magmatic rocks, pegmatites, granite, it can be also found in metamorphic slates and hydrothermal veins, usually with quartz wich is often smoky quartz. It can be massive, but the thick, columnar, often twinned crystals are common. For a long time it has been known only from the mines of Miass (Ilmensky Mountains, Southern Urals, Russia). Later it was found in more localities: USA (Colorado), Brazil, Russia, Madagascar, Canada, India, Zimbabwe, Australia etc.