Beginner's Lot rocks/fossils - Need help digging in right direction

[Rific]

I am an early beginner hunter and I am having problems narrowing my search. I am reading more than I am hunting, but I still think I am ending up with useless or man made finds. I would like to post some pics of interesting rocks/fossils i have found, and have you guys ID some of my more noteable finds and point out man made ones. This way, i can narrow my haul and know where to dig deeper! Any help is appreciated for if nothing but my sleep! Its 1:00 am and im still too anxious to sleep!!


Some of the rocks look like cement, some have colors and imprints, but im not sure if theyre mineralized colors or just scum lol..i hope my pretty green quartz is supposed to b green

 

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[Rific]

I also sometimes search by bashing a rock open so it would help to know to save certain kinds and not take look at them no matter how bad i want to! After breaking the smaller golfball sized quartz with pink pebbles i was sad because i think i ruined it

 

[Eu_citzen]

I'll start with the pics with only one rock/pic. For sake of ease.

#1. Limonite
#2 To blurry to tell.
#3 Uncertain.
#4 Quartz rich granitoid? Lots of quartz, for sure.
#5 Sedimentary rock? Better pic would help.
#6 Asphalt?

 

[Rific]

I'll start with the pics with only one rock/pic. For sake of ease....

Hey thanks for the help! Im at work now but ill wash a cpl off n take a better closer pic...the one i tought cld b some kind of cement was purple so i picked it up anyways. It has a red solid smooth cap over the median with gravel. In that sedimentary red/orangish rock it has metallic flecks...is that real metal? Almost wll rocks have some metal flecks in them?

 

[Eu_citzen]

Hey thanks for the help! Im at work now but ill wash a cpl off n take a better closer pic...the one i tought cld b some kind of cement was purple so i picked it up anyways. It has a red solid smooth cap over the median with gravel. In that sedimentary red/orangish rock it has metallic flecks...is that real metal? Almost wll rocks have some metal flecks in them?

The metallic specs are likely Mica. Metals are quite rare, often they occur together with sulfur to make new minerals.
Its basically iron and sulfur for example is Pyrite, "fools gold".

 

[Rific]

Here are a couple pictures of todays location/finds. Im not sure if i should dig out this whole area or move on...

This one i hope is an iron meteorite?
View attachment 1424384

In this picture, i found what i believe to be oldddd sand or sea floor? I could find some interesting stuff if thats what it is. The median isnt rock like - very grain-like
View attachment 1424385


In all, i am definitely in an area where it was under water. I also see a lot of what i think are volcanic rocks or even cooled down lava flows solidified over top of what were normal rocks at time of volcanism Some of it i think might be concrete or asphalt but some of this stuff looks too old, is shiny or a tad metamophised?

I still have to scrub up and take some better pics but only so much daylight...TBC! I think ive found a new cheap hobby! Im havin lots of fun with this! Ive just started and ive alrdy founf a fossil! Thank you all for your efforts!

 

[Rific]

...
#6 Asphalt?

Could rock #3 and #6 be forms of basalt/gabbro? The inner sctructure of #3 is similar to that "old sand" i was digging at today. The outside is hard and crisp but inside would cumble easily, not like a rock.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Here are a couple pictures of todays location/finds. Im not sure if i should dig out this whole area or move on...

This one i hope is an iron meteorite?
View attachment 1424384

In this picture, i found what i believe to be oldddd sand or sea floor? I could find some interesting stuff if thats what it is. The median isnt rock like - very grain-like
View attachment 1424385


In all, i am definitely in an area where it was under water. I also see a lot of what i think are volcanic rocks or even cooled down lava flows solidified over top of what were normal rocks at time of volcanism Some of it i think might be concrete or asphalt but some of this stuff looks too old, is shiny or a tad metamophised?

I still have to scrub up and take some better pics but only so much daylight...TBC! I think ive found a new cheap hobby! Im havin lots of fun with this! Ive just started and ive alrdy founf a fossil! Thank you all for your efforts!

#1 Appears to be glassy. Obsidian or slag?
#2 Could be a granitoid, volcanic in origin. Better pics would be needed to tell for sure.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Could rock #3 and #6 be forms of basalt/gabbro? The inner sctructure of #3 is similar to that "old sand" i was digging at today. The outside is hard and crisp but inside would cumble easily, not like a rock.

Not likely, basalt and gabbro look totally different.

 

[DDancer]

Your into some interesting stuff. I'll only speak on the last two pictures as the first ones in the post are to jumbled for me and EU hit some key points. The black glassy rock I say go dig it up~ it appears to be obsidian, snowflake obsidian, and is cool all by itself.


The second image of the grainy rock could be a couple of things. Simple sedimentary rock, sand stone, as you indicate the area was underwater at one time; or compacted ash if there have been volcanic events there. I'm inclined for sand stone as most ashes show some patterning and are very fine grained. They are also very soft.

 

[Rific]

Your into some interesting stuff...

Hey thanks DDancer! Great thing is, both the rock and the supposed sand bed are right beside each other! Im OMW out the door now! Just got home from work and i only have about an hour of daylight at most so I'll report back soon! Cant talk gotta go!

 

[Rific]

Still cleaning the rocks for more photos, but i had to show this littleee find...

Found 2 flakes of this on the sidewall of the washout ive been digging at, although I didnt get to dig today. Could it be ALBITE!?
View attachment 1424743

 

[PennyG]

Still cleaning the rocks for more photos, but i had to show this littleee find...

Found 2 flakes of this on the sidewall of the washout ive been digging at, although I didnt get to dig today. Could it be ALBITE!?
View attachment 1424743

Mica perhaps.

 

[PennyG]

I am an early beginner hunter and I am having problems narrowing my search. I am reading more than I am hunting, but I still think I am ending up with useless or man made finds. I would like to post some pics of interesting rocks/fossils i have found, and have you guys ID some of my more noteable finds and point out man made ones. This way, i can narrow my haul and know where to dig deeper! Any help is appreciated for if nothing but my sleep! Its 1:00 am and im still too anxious to sleep!!


Some of the rocks look like cement, some have colors and imprints, but im not sure if theyre mineralized colors or just scum lol..i hope my pretty green quartz is supposed to b green

I found some rock similar to number 10 in your line up. I soaked in vinegar for a few days and worked at it today. Very interesting layers on the inside. I've done my best to keep all the small rocks in mine since I'll be heading to crater of diamonds soon. Once I broke it open there smaller crystal like rocks.
Happy hunting .

 

[PennyG]

Here are a couple pictures of todays location/finds. Im not sure if i should dig out this whole area or move on...

This one i hope is an iron meteorite?
View attachment 1424384

In this picture, i found what i believe to be oldddd sand or sea floor? I could find some interesting stuff if thats what it is. The median isnt rock like - very grain-like
View attachment 1424385


In all, i am definitely in an area where it was under water. I also see a lot of what i think are volcanic rocks or even cooled down lava flows solidified over top of what were normal rocks at time of volcanism Some of it i think might be concrete or asphalt but some of this stuff looks too old, is shiny or a tad metamophised?

I still have to scrub up and take some better pics but only so much daylight...TBC! I think ive found a new cheap hobby! Im havin lots of fun with this! Ive just started and ive alrdy founf a fossil! Thank you all for your efforts!

Larger rock that is "shiny" is most likely an old rock that was around when water covered the area. The shiny stuff like crystals is called Druse.
I'm in NW Arkansas and have seen rocks like that everywhere.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Mica perhaps.

Mica indeed, the variant here is called muscovite.

 

[Rific]

Mica perhaps.

From what ive read about albite, gemstones could be found near it. Does the same apply to mica?

My overall goal is to find gemstones/fossils/rare objects that no one has seen before for millions of years. With everything ive found in the area, does it seem like a good idea to keep digging here??

I thinkh there may have been gemstones in some of the rocks around here but have been weathered/decomposed out, or somehow stripped after whatever could happen in a million years

 

[IAMZIM]

Albite is a variety of feldspar which can indeed be associated with gemstone material, and some albite is considered to be a gemstone as well, such as moonstone. Mica, also can be associated with material where gemstones can be found too, like quartz (all kinds including smokey, & amethyst) topaz, beryls, lots of stuff. Many of these types of crystals grow with each other making really neat combinations!

Here is an example of Schorl on an Albite matrix for example.

Albite moonstone.

Elbaite on Albite. The list can go on and on.

 

[Rific]

Albite is a variety of feldspar which can indeed be associated with gemstone material...

Great news!! I think i will dig that area up then! You guys have been a great help! I had covered so much ground, but i wasnt sure where to start digging heavily.

Lastly, before i let u guys go for a while, i have oneee more set of pictures id like some help/conversation on. I saw a lot of things i thought were man made, at first. But after more reading, perhaps some of these are indeed a natural rock? (Except for the last picture, Idk what it is..its soft/maluable/layered and i peeled one off almost like bark from a green/live tree) Is the last one even a rock?

This one is really very weird. It was found near the obsidian. It almost has 3 different types of textures/rocks. Some of those rocks are blocky which at first i wrote off for bricks but ive seen pics of rocks that can mimic a brick very well. Then,u can see it looks almost as if something was poured over/through these rocks and it solodified.
View attachment 1425095 View attachment 1425099 View attachment 1425100

Almost like coral if i even know what thatis? Lava flow rock? Idk but its so massive the whole hillside has different dirt because of this stuff weathering. I thought this place was a smelt dump of some sort?
View attachment 1425101

No clue
View attachment 1425102
View attachment 1425103

This one has almost claw marks in it, i thought it was just cement?
View attachment 1425104 View attachment 1425105

Real rock or just man made dump of smelt material? Very heavy like solid metal if i remember correctly
View attachment 1425109

Last rock - soft and bendy and the bottom isnt cracked open like the top.
View attachment 1425106 View attachment 1425107 View attachment 1425108

These objects were a reason i stayed away from certain areas thinking they were man made.so, if any of these are real, is there a reason to DIG near them?

 

[Eu_citzen]

From what ive read about albite, gemstones could be found near it. Does the same apply to mica?

My overall goal is to find gemstones/fossils/rare objects that no one has seen before for millions of years. With everything ive found in the area, does it seem like a good idea to keep digging here??

I thinkh there may have been gemstones in some of the rocks around here but have been weathered/decomposed out, or somehow stripped after whatever could happen in a million years

To a limited extent, yes. Albite belongs to the K feldspar grouping, K Feldspar is sorta a field term since the feldspars can't be determined without lab-analysis.

That said, it is quite a common mineral. It's in the right geological setting you need to find it so as to know it may be an indicator of gems.
If it occurs in pegmatite, for example.

So far I haven't seen enough to make myself a mental picture of the geology of the area.
Keep an eye out for road cuts close to the area you're in, they may often give valuable hints where rock exposures are few.