chaleche versus mineralization

[dognose]

I was speaking with a buddy recently about mineralization on some relics we have. He showed me a relic which he said had caliche on the surface.


I find a relics which have mineralization on the surface and patina which has altered the color of the material. But I do not find relics which exhibit the "caliche" like mineralization which he had.


I have to add the relic was not from the midwest, were I am located.


Post your relics which exhibit a "caliche" like mineralization please.

 

[MosesOfTheSouth]

the benton cache i found. one side of each is perfectly clean. the other side has rock hard build up that is thick thick. no amount of washing or scrubbing will touch it. it's comparable to the type of thing you might find where water is dripping in a cave.
with other stuff that wasn't a once in a lifetime find like that, i've used muriatic acid to totally remove this type of build up.

if you click on the pics they should flip the right side up.

 

[Tdog]

Some examples from North Dakota -- Knife River Flint; a.k.a. KRF.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/north-american-indian-artifacts/616753-north-dakota-krf.html

 

[MosesOfTheSouth]

terry's got the caliche type deposit. mine more mineralization ? i dunno maybe east vs west difference?

 

[joshuaream]

Here is some caliche on obsidian. It doesn't wash off, it's almost etched into the surface. Pretty typical for one side to have a thicker coat than the other. In some undisturbed environments, one side will be covered and the other will have none (or maybe just a slight halo on the edge. This piece has a bit of that going on.)

 

[uniface]

Caliche deposits are hardened limestone drips (cave environments) as I understand it (or, maybe don't ?)