elevation coincidence Options

[prospect4fun]

Hello, total noob question here:
I've done some gold prospecting so I know how to look for it, but I am totally new to gems. Something I've noticed is that some sites which produce smoky quartz and amazonite, appear to be around 8500'. The diggings around Devils Head, Sentinel/Specimen, StoveMtn, StPetersEureka, even Lake George and Tarryall, all appear to be around that elevation. There's probably many more sites around that elevation that I don't know about, those are just the front range ones I do know of.
Coincidence elevation wise?

Also my recent interest in gems has grown since I started dirtbike riding, which has allowed me to get back in places rarely visited and see some really cool stuff!

[nate]

not a coincidence at all. it has to do with the history of geology and how the mountains of colorado formed, reformed and had intrusions. elevation is something i have heard a lot of chatter about and have been trying to look more into. for the pegmatic minerals you are talking about, most of them are found in elevations > 8000. also heard of directly at 8000 being good.Causing this, there was an initial magma flow a billion or so years ago that was later displaced by other magma flows. This formed a system of concentric rings with the higher mineralizations. its not going to be the same across the pikes peak batholith, but within each intrusive center you should find that the productive areas are close in elevation. (i.e. At crystal peak, most of the mines are around the same elevation zones. i would suggest reading more into the formation of the mountains. there are some good reads on crystal peak and why it is such a hot spot. I am currently looking over maps for possible areas that match this....knowledge is power.