Many hours of research; more confused than ever.

[bonafideslacker]

Hi everyone,

I'm in coastal southern Oregon and my family has taken up rockhounding as a hobby since there are such abundant sources for pretty stones in the creeks, rivers, and beaches here.
By way of being the one who's most interested by far in the research department, I've spent hours every week for the past couple months researching local geology as well as general knowledge on words like 'sedimentary' and 'igneous'. I have rubbed elbows with folks here and elsewhere who use words like 'breccia', which I've nearly figured out how to pronounce properly...

..but I still can't even begin to classify or identify most of these damn rocks. (Ha~ It's so eternally frustrating)

So I'm going to bore you other members here with seriously newbie stuff, like "Will someone please take the time to identify each stone in the photos I've included, by whatever is it's most commonly known name?" (The internet must have christened every stone at least a dozen times, because there seems to be no solid consensus whatsoever for many things.) They're all very simple stones, nothing eye-popping, but I'm still darned if I'm going to let a bunch of petrified wood stump me. (heh)

Which leads me to: how is it possible to identify petrified wood without looking at it microscopically? I've uploaded a photo with some obvious petrified wood pieces in it, but when using google images to search 'petrified wood', many of the images pulled up look nothing whatsoever like wood. So how's a girl to know?

The attached photo with 'red' stones are all things which are identified as 'red jasper' during google image searches. Is it reasonable that all these shades and shapes are jasper, or are they something else entirely?

The greenish shiny/smooth looking stones have shown up as everything from 'chert' to 'oregon jade' to 'petrified wood' to 'chalcedony'....what is the difference and how can I tell?

The single stone in the photo is just cool, oddly banded, and looks like nothing else we've found. I stand zero chance of identifying it myself, so..?

Thanks so much for your patience and help,


Dana


PS. Will experience bear a lot of this out for me or does one need a degree (or advanced study) in geology to be able to know minerals and gemstones on sight?

 

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[Rookster]

My advice is to just use the factory setting on your Ace 300 till you start to put the tone with the target. It just takes time in with the machine to learn it. Good luck.

 

[bonafideslacker]

I should have been more clear that these questions are rockhound-(Oregon river stones in particular)-related and not about gold or treasure/relic hunting with my Aces.
Thanks for your time, though, and I'll definitely take my time once I start swinging those suckers.

 

[Eu_citzen]

First steps:

Chip a edge, identification is done using freshly exposed surfaces. Dry.
Take new pictures.
Hardness test; will a knife scratch them?

There is a good post here on the forum about mineral identification by Moesia. Maybe try the search function?

Here are two good references:
https://www.mindat.org/

Mineralogy Database


All that said, if you can ID about a handful of minerals on sight, you're doing good.
It's not rare having to take home samples and ID them there.

 

[ToddsPoint]

First, you need to be able to tell the difference between igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Once you are able to separate your rocks into 3 groups ID becomes a *little* easier. Another problem is where you live. Lots of different kinds of rocks out there. You are in rock heaven. Gary

 

[Bajahunter]

I use https://www.minerals.net/ as an online guide.
Jasper, chert, agate, and petrified wood are all forms of chalcedony.
Many minerals have local names so a piece of jasper might be known by another name in another location. Don’t get too hung up on a name. Yes jasper can be in many different colors.
Rocks in first pic are all what I would call jasper.
Do a couple of the tests that Eu suggested and repost pics with results. Group similar rocks into separate posts.

 

[Treasurehunter133]

I use https://www.minerals.net/ as an online guide.
Jasper, chert, agate, and petrified wood are all forms of chalcedony.
Many minerals have local names so a piece of jasper might be known by another name in another location. Don’t get too hung up on a name. Yes jasper can be in many different colors.
Rocks in first pic are all what I would call jasper.
Do a couple of the tests that Eu suggested and repost pics with results. Group similar rocks into separate posts.

Once you get more hours on your machine the better you get and get better things than the others!

 

[IAMZIM]

My advice is to just use the factory setting on your Ace 300 till you start to put the tone with the target. It just takes time in with the machine to learn it. Good luck.

LoL! No wonder the poor girl is confused....

 

[IAMZIM]

I agree with ToddsPoint about being in rockhounding heaven, when I was a kid, I went to Oregon with my grandmother to pick up a cousin of mine to bring back to Montana for a visit. We stopped on the coast and found some awesome agates. I have often thought about going back there, just to find more agates! Hope you find some!