Pink Amethyst is a new color variety of Quartz coming from Argentine Patagonia. Several studies have been carried recently in the United States, Argentina and Germany in order to determine the nature of its coloration. 

Specimens color range between pale to moderate purplish pink. Optical, spectroscopic, Raman and microchemical analyses show that the pink color in Patagonian quartz crystals is caused by the presence of two types of iron: iron activated by exposure to natural radiation, same chromophore than in the very well-known violet Amethyst, and iron as microscopic hematite particles. In this sense, they are not Rose Quartz or Pink Quartz as classically defined, and since the color of Amethyst is, by definition, also caused by iron, the Patagonian specimens are referred to as “Pink Amethyst”.