Black shiny rock, any ideas?

[DrewK]

Im from northern IL and I found this black shiny rock while I was on walk on a walk path, found about 100ft away from a river in the woods off the path. It's lightweight and has a brownish red tint underneath the black which you can partially see in the first picture. Any help would be great.

 

[Deftone]

Kinda looks like coal.

 

[Daryn]

I agree, looks like a piece of coal. Still cool looking!

 

[I'm Hoping]

As a rock hound,I'm thinking Coal also.

 

[DrewK]

As a rock hound,I'm thinking Coal also.

It feels a little light to be coal but if you guys say so, I'm no expert by any means.

 

[boojagirl]

I find those in my back yard sometimes here in Minnesota

 

[Geochem]

Looks like high grade coal - Anthracite grade coal. Did it get dropped somehow at the location you found it while being carried?

Also, Anthracite will cleave/break fairly easily, into fragments and fines. Some grades of Anthracite become glassy and fracture in curved chips like glass.

Ground up Anthracite is what composes activated carbon filter, and is highly electrostatic to polar (positive or negative charges) compounds in water. Often used for our ice makers and such to purify our tap water from hydrocarbons and metal ions. In some cases the cartridges are electrostatic resins beads.