Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the earth’s continental crust. The quartz groups including both crystalline varieties like citrine, amethyst, and rock crystal as well as the crypto-crystalline varieties like chalcedony, jasper, chrysoprase, and a host of other agates. The name quartz derives from the Greek word 'krustallos' meaning ice because the Greeks believed that quartz was ice that never melted as it was created by the gods.
The strongly pink or rose colored varieties of quartz are known collectively as rose quartz. Rose quartz is normally found as translucent fibrous masses in most deposits but well large formed crystals are also found at some localities in Brazil. It varies in color from a strong rose pink to nearly white and is nearly always cloudy and never entirely clean.