Red rock with crystals inside. Anybody?

[G Freeman]

Don't know what crystals are in this rock. Anybody have a guess? Thanks.

 

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[BurntBear]

Very interesting Glen! I can definitely see the fluorescence.

 

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[G Freeman]

BB, I'm not a crystaline structure specialist, not a mineral specialist, not a chemical specialist,
but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

If we are/were talking beryl, we would be talking Bixbite. I figure with the emeralds in the carolina areas, there would only have to be the right mineral composition, to create Bixbite, vs heliodor or aquamarine, talking beryls, I mean. Follow me?
I have heard of one instance of Bixbite being found (in the Carolinas, I thought), and of course, I could probably never find, where I seen that.

Like I said, I have dreams of me or someone finding that red emerald mother load vein!

Beryl: The mineral Beryl info & pictures (aquamarine, emerald)

Hope you find it pat-tekker-cat. Let me know. WOO HOOOO.

 

[G Freeman]

Very interesting Glen! I can definitely see the fluorescence.

Thanks BB. At least I hope I was not just seeing something that was not there.

 

[BurntBear]

I'm trying to determine if the fluorescence you're seeing isn't some sort of reflection from the UV. Reason being that the fluorescent spot is perfectly round. That's probably something you can determine on your end in person though.

Something I noticed about the other crystal you found; it appears to have a Rhombic-type structure as well. I cropped your pics that I saved to show you what I mean.



Both of these specimens strangely resemble Fluorite, but Fluorite is very soft. The blue-green crystal really looks like Fluorite and Dolomite.

 

[Eu_citzen]

BruntBear I think I have got a lot of Aquamarine from this site as it is blue green but very light blue crystals. Got to turn the crystals a certain way in shade of the lamp to see the blue in them. Does that make sense? Also under black light I found 4 places that flourese a bright orange red and it is just little specks of red but they are so bright under UV light but with regular light can't see them.

There is a simple reason why that happens. Pleochroism is what the phenomena is called. Many minerals show it, but only a few crystal systems show only 2 colour.
To put is simpler:

The light is bent differently in different directions of the crystal. So you see different colours. (or hues)
Aquamarine (hexagonal crystals) bend light in 2 different directions, down the length of the crystal and 90 degrees to that. (or, if put standing on a table, vertical and horizontal)
Corundum (trigonal crystals) show the same effect. Quartz to, but often not as apparent.

One of the most known minerals which show this is tourmaline.
It's also the reason they are so often cut into rectangular shapes; since down the length of the crystal they often are near black.


This is more in depth and technical:
Pleochroism - The Gemology Project

Either way, back to the unknown specimen. What kind of rock did you pull it out of? Do you know?

Yeah.. White streaks have fooled me more then once, to. LOL
Do a new hardness test to be sure, knife and quartz. Wipe of any white streaks before checking with the loupe, and don't be afraid to use a little bit of force.
If its harder then the knife you'll see a metallic line on it rather then a scratch.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Raw aquamarine has subtle shading, from what I have seen. It's almost like, it isn't even there.
I thought they heat treated aquamarine to bring out color? Please do correct me if I am mistaken.

Heating changes the colour, removes the green component. Irradiation deepens the colour, I think.

 

[G Freeman]

I'm trying to determine if the fluorescence you're seeing isn't some sort of reflection from the UV. Reason being that the fluorescent spot is perfectly round. That's probably something you can determine on your end in person though.

Something I noticed about the other crystal you found; it appears to have a Rhombic-type structure as well. I cropped your pics that I saved to show you what I mean.

View attachment 1082435 View attachment 1082436

Both of these specimens strangely resemble Fluorite, but Fluorite is very soft. The blue-green crystal really looks like Fluorite and Dolomite.

BB I noticed too that the picture I took the red spot was round but that was my fault and was the way I was holding the loupe caused that. When I look at it under the uv lite without the loupe it is not round but went ahead and showed the picture to show that there was something else in there. This is a good size crystal that weighs 9.12 lbs and there are at least three other places in this crystal that shows same thing. I will post picture of entire crystal tomorrow when sun is helping. Thanks all for your help and interest. Maybe we can solve it together.

 

[G Freeman]

There is a simple reason why that happens. Pleochroism is what the phenomena is called. Many minerals show it, but only a few crystal systems show only 2 colour.
To put is simpler:

The light is bent differently in different directions of the crystal. So you see different colours. (or hues)
Aquamarine (hexagonal crystals) bend light in 2 different directions, down the length of the crystal and 90 degrees to that. (or, if put standing on a table, vertical and horizontal)
Corundum (trigonal crystals) show the same effect. Quartz to, but often not as apparent.

One of the most known minerals which show this is tourmaline.
It's also the reason they are so often cut into rectangular shapes; since down the length of the crystal they often are near black.


This is more in depth and technical:
Pleochroism - The Gemology Project

Either way, back to the unknown specimen. What kind of rock did you pull it out of? Do you know?

Yeah.. White streaks have fooled me more then once, to. LOL
Do a new hardness test to be sure, knife and quartz. Wipe of any white streaks before checking with the loupe, and don't be afraid to use a little bit of force.
If its harder then the knife you'll see a metallic line on it rather then a scratch.

Eu I pulled this crystal from a vein of crystals many of them when I first started getting into rocks and digging for them about a year ago. I put them out of the way at home and just lately got them out of storage after you guys got me looking for colour in crystals. I remember some of these crystals had colour in them. Saw these crystals in the ground in the vein looked blue green in the ground. When I took them from the ground in sunlight the colour was weaker so I just put them away here at home. The vein had nothing but crystals in it so I did not take these out of a rock and they came out of the ground as all crystal. Hope that helps. Thank you for everything and trying to help me. I am trying to learn everything I can from you guys and gals that know a lot more than me.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Heat treatments can be used to enhance the color in Aquamarine. It is usually very pale blue or green-blue. As far as the UV fluorescence, I'm going to have to research that. Very interesting.

Aquamarine is usually inert in UV light. Most Beryls are. Goshenite (clear) can fluoresce pale yellow or pink in both SW & LW.
Topaz usually fluoresces yellow to yellow-orange, and the fluorescence is in phantom crystals in the gem. Some Topaz from Texas shows a blue-white fluorescence.
Jim

 

[G Freeman]

Eu I pulled this crystal from a vein of crystals many of them when I first started getting into rocks and digging for them about a year ago. I put them out of the way at home and just lately got them out of storage after you guys got me looking for colour in crystals. I remember some of these crystals had colour in them. Saw these crystals in the ground in the vein looked blue green in the ground. When I took them from the ground in sunlight the colour was weaker so I just put them away here at home. The vein had nothing but crystals in it so I did not take these out of a rock and they came out of the ground as all crystal. Hope that helps. Thank you for everything and trying to help me. I am trying to learn everything I can from you guys and gals that know a lot more than me.

Eu I am not talking about the red rock with the crystals but another crystal that I will post tomorrow when I have sunshine to get pictures outside..

 

[BurntBear]

This specimen could possibly be red Cuprite.

Check out this photo of some:

http://www.mindat.org/photo-651727.html

 

[G Freeman]

This specimen could possibly be red Cuprite.

Check out this photo of some:

http://www.mindat.org/photo-651727.html

BB Mine does not seem to be that red to me as mine seems to be more pinkish red. It could still be that.

 

[BurntBear]

They are generally darker red, but there are lighter tones out there. Here is a photo of some lighter color red:

 

[DDancer]

Interesting idea BB but its not hard enough. Cuprite is about a 4 for hardness. The pictures look alike though. I'm wondering if its some odd form of garnet about now*frowns* Been picking at this for a week now. Another candidate might be a form of vanadium but I cant track down a good source for images and data...

 

[G Freeman]

Interesting idea BB but its not hard enough. Cuprite is about a 4 for hardness. The pictures look alike though. I'm wondering if its some odd form of garnet about now*frowns* Been picking at this for a week now. Another candidate might be a form of vanadium but I cant track down a good source for images and data...

DDancer Can't swear by my calculations but the red pink rocks SG IS 2.68 if that helps. Thanks.

 

[G Freeman]

They are generally darker red, but there are lighter tones out there. Here is a photo of some lighter color red:

View attachment 1089860

BruntBear the color of this rock that I have looks just like Raspberry color. SG 2.68.

 

[BurntBear]

Oh, definitely not Cuprite then, lol. Cuprite is like 6.1 or something.

 

[G Freeman]

Oh, definitely not Cuprite then, lol. Cuprite is like 6.1 or something.

BruntBear the rock to me on the outside looks like Beryl except for the color that is pink red. I will throw it in the truck Sat.