Went for a hike looking for "obsidian mt." and found these.....

[curious kat]

....we were lucky to find it once & call it "obsidian mountain" because it covers the whole hill side in a sheet like layer. But...we couldn't find it this time, it's like "Brigadoon"...lol...sometimes you can find it other times not. But did find some pieces of it in the wash...it's light greenish and there's also some light brown, but didn't find that.


...saw this pretty "rock" hill side and also some volcanic cliffs....also found some bear doo...but didn't take a pic. of that!


...then came home and found this large rock...which is ? So....it was a fun day.

 

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[Eu_citzen]

The first "hill" sure has a resemblance to conglomerate. Pretty cool!

What do you do with all your obsidian? Don't know about you - but I think it'd be cool cut the green and set in silver!

Regarding your unknown, chalcedony?

 

[mamabear]

I agree with EU, the green obsidian would be gorgeous as a pendant. I would love to go for a walk with you Kat. you have some interesting formations there.

 

[G Freeman]

....we were lucky to find it once & call it "obsidian mountain" because it covers the whole hill side in a sheet like layer. But...we couldn't find it this time, it's like "Brigadoon"...lol...sometimes you can find it other times not. But did find some pieces of it in the wash...it's light greenish and there's also some light brown, but didn't find that.
View attachment 985962

...saw this pretty "rock" hill side and also some volcanic cliffs....also found some bear doo...but didn't take a pic. of that!
View attachment 985976 View attachment 985979

...then came home and found this large rock...which is ? So....it was a fun day.
View attachment 985981 View attachment 985982

Nice Curious Kat,i will have to agree with mamabear about the interesting formations.

 

[curious kat]

...Thanks you guys....

Eu....I don't know but I think this green obsidian is more degraded (older) than the darker green nodules...so don't know if it would hold up without splintering? I'll have to google "conglomerate"...am guessing that it's just a mixture of stones? Thanks for the guess on the stone!

Thanks mamabear & G Freeman....glad you guys like "rocks" to!

 

[Eu_citzen]

If it was green from weathering it would be green only on the surface, if you chipped a corner that should be obvious.
If you can part with a piece or two I'd love to give it a try! Shoot me a PM.

Conglomerate is a "cement" off rounded rocks and sand. Basically old river sediments that became a rock.

 

[DDancer]

The dark pieces certainly look like candidates for obsidian. The green pieces look more like serpentine and don't exhibit glass like fracturing so I'm not inclined to say they are obsidian. Could be a type of jade :?
The large stone at the end is quartz with some type of iron mineral inclusion... possibly hematite. Not unusual and the red staining lends to iron being present in the specimen.
That's a good area to find a lot of different types of stones Old stream bed conglomerates can hold all sorts of goodies. I would not be surprised if there are agates there

 

[curious kat]

...humm....Eu & DDancer....about my "greenish" obsidian that I posted a pic of above....well DDancer has got me wondering about it. I took a closer look at the one piece I could find, still looking for the others as I may have pitched them in the yard somewhere.....could it be "serpentine" even above 5,000 feet elev.?
We just assumed that it was obsidian because of it being found around other obsidian. And yes DDancer the dark in the picture is obsidian, we have lots of it here. Maybe I'll take close ups of the one piece and post for a better ID. It does look different, but thought it was just a degraded form of obsidian. Thanks guys....we'll see what it is maybe....and Eu like I said the only piece I have now is that bottom right long triangle one. If we can find the place where we got those, will get some more.

 

[DDancer]

Serpentines can often be found in conjunction with volcanic elements. Usually not in the main elements of a volcanic event but on the out laying areas. Obsidians themselves are not prone to degradation. Obsidian is literally glass of volcanic origin. Glass does not degrade however it can morph... change shape. Serpentines are formed in highly mineralized hot water environments and can be found just about anywhere. Usually they are glassy or greasy looking and like your specimens a pitted uneven fracture pattern is not unusual. Serpentines can occur in a wide variety of colors and some exhibit banding similar to agates. However serpentines are softer than high silicate agates.
If ya have been pitching them in the yard then the mineral is called Leaverite... heheh... ie Leaver right there Obsidians are pretty cool. One can find banded, colored or just solid color variations of them. Depending on the minerals involved the coloration will vary. The one thing that will not vary with obsidians is that they are glass and fracture like glass.

 

[curious kat]

Thanks for the new info. DDancer...I took another picture of the piece in question..... ...hope these turn out & help in ID. Also...I have read that obsidian does "degrade" and that's why you only find the nodules when the volcanic activity was fairly recent. Also we do find it turning into a crystal form that falls apart...so...?

And yes obsidian does come in different colors...these are some we found....


Note: Forgot to mention, what are those little red stones in the piece in question?

 

[huntsman53]

I am not sure as to whether the top rock would be considered as some form of Obsidian but to me, it looks like a melted conglomerate of many different rocks and minerals that were caught in and melted by a Lava flow. We sometimes find Aventurine on Chucky Gal Mountain in North Carolina when looking for matrix specimens similar to Zoisite (called Smaragdite) which contain Rubies and Sapphires and your' rock sort of reminds me of these (the Aventurine). This and many other areas of Western North Carolina were subject to volcanic and extreme compression some 100 to 300 million years ago or more. I have found conglomerates in a stream off the backside of Chunky Gal Mountain that were made up of mainly White Sapphires (not clear and colorless) and a few other colors, other gemstones and aluvial stream bed rocks/gravels that are amazing. Some that are the size of a baseball weigh 5 to nearly 10 pounds due to the severe compression and heat that they went through when forming. A friend cut one in half for me so that we could see the inside makeup and he burnt up 3 Diamond Saw blades doing so.


Frank

 

[curious kat]

...interesting information huntsman...wish we had some Sapphires here. You should post some pictures of those!

 

[Eu_citzen]

Serpentine is very soft and easily scratched with a knife. it often has a "soapy" feel to it if you rubb your fingers on it. A greasy surface is also very common.
It can come in a lot of colours, though!
For reference:

 

[huntsman53]

...interesting information huntsman...wish we had some Sapphires here. You should post some pictures of those!

kat... After showing me the rocks after cutting, I believe I let my friend Rocky keep them for study but I will look to see if I have any left. Rocky who was a Captain in the Marines, died in November 2011 (I believe) from complications from all of the cancers and other problems caused by Agent Orange from his Service in Vietnam. He moved back to Michigan in 2008 to be near his mom and dad as his Doctor told him he was dying. He probably had a few million dollars worth of gems and gem/mineral specimens when he moved but some of it was stolen while he came back here to get the rest of his' stuff. All that knew Rocky, lost a very good friend and I lost a Gem/Mineral Hunting Buddy when he moved then later died!


Frank

 

[curious kat]

Eu....I went & got the piece to see if it was like you described for "serpentine"...well, it doesn't really feel soapy or greasy and doesn't scratch very easily either. So don't know if it is that after all? What about those little red pebbles in the small piece, what are they? Maybe that tells something? And I did find one of the bigger pieces in the yard & took another picture.......so ?

 

[huntsman53]

Eu....I went & got the piece to see if it was like you described for "serpentine"...well, it doesn't really feel soapy or greasy and doesn't scratch very easily either. So don't know if it is that after all? What about those little red pebbles in the small piece, what are they? Maybe that tells something? And I did find one of the bigger pieces in the yard & took another picture.......so ?

After seeing the pic of the big specimen and then viewing the small piece with the red stones, I am leaning towards the rock being Smaradite with Rubies and/or Sapphires in it. If this correct (which probably isn't), the rock was subjected to extreme heat from a volcanic source or possibly heat from extreme compression after it formed and the Ruby and/or Sapphire crystals developed inside it. As for the bubbles, I believe that if my previous stament is correct, then the bubbles are air bubbles and other bubbles that pushed outwards while the rock was in a semi-solid state and hardened quickly from rapidly cooling. Again, I could be wrong but that is what I believe.


Frank

 

[curious kat]

Thank you huntsman for the new information, don't know if it's the one with rubies in it or not...I looked up the pictures and that stone seems very green and mine is lighter in color, could it still be that? That would be nice if it was rubies...lol....but most likely not...but how could you tell if it was I wonder?

 

[huntsman53]

Thank you huntsman for the new information, don't know if it's the one with rubies in it or not...I looked up the pictures and that stone seems very green and mine is lighter in color, could it still be that? That would be nice if it was rubies...lol....but most likely not...but how could you tell if it was I wonder?

kat, Smaragdite comes in a variety of color schemes depending upon it's overall mineral makeup (i.e. it could be mixed with a lot of other minerals) and what other rocks that form alongside it. While the most common colors are light to medium to almost dark greens sometimes mixed with greenish/blue hues, greyish/blue, and even peridot colored as well as other colors and combinations. So, I believe that it is possible that the Smaragdite where you found it, formed in such a color and due to extreme heat, somewhat melted and re-hardened to become the specimens that you found.

If you can take some real closeup pics of the red stones, I am pretty sure that some of us can tell whether they are Rubies, Sapphires or possibly something else. If you have trouble getting good in-focus closeups, then by holding a magnifier or gem loupe lens in front of your camera's lense, you should be able to get some decent closeup shots of the stones.


Frank

 

[curious kat]

...huntsman...I tried to take some pictures like you said....don't know what it is, looks like a red pebble to me. Thank you for trying to help on this!

 

[JLeonhardy]

If it's from a known greenstone area and you can scratch it with a pen knife, or true steel blade, it's serpentine. If you can't it's jade. If it has any kind of gemmy/crystally structure to it..... it's a whole lot more interesting.