First Thread, Finds From a Wash Walk

[xander66]

Hey All, I'm new to the forum. Google sent me here trying to find some spots to go hunting, and I recently got a chance to go to Arizona and try my luck with my girlfriend. We actually found some cool things, let me know what you think!



The first two pictures are both sides of a little agate I believe.
I'm curious as to what is giving the next piece (I think its quartz) the red and almost purple color.
The big piece on the table is my favorite find because of all the color play. Could that be opal? I don't know what would make a normal looking piece have all that color!
And the final two pictures are a little piece that will make a nice pendant. I think its Quartz again?

Thanks for looking! I'm happy to have found the forum, you guys all seem pretty cool!

 

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[BurntBear]

Very nice specimens and welcome to TN!

The red/purple color in the second specimen is most likely from iron oxides or manganese.

The third specimen appears to be Quartz and what you may be seeing is healed fractures in the crystal that display a "rainbow" effect when light passes through.

The last specimens appear to be Quartz as well. Neat finds! -Luke

 

[xander66]

Do the inclusions in the quartz change the name at all? I'm probably going to wire wrap the smaller pieces and would like to know what I'm giving people.

I'll have to do some research on the fracture explanation, that would still be pretty cool to me! Thanks for your reply!

 

[BurntBear]

Here is a quick reference to Quartz and it explains briefly the fractured aspect:

https://hsu.edu/pictures.aspx?id=1799

This is another informative website dedicated to Quartz:

The Quartz Page

Stained Quartz is what I would call a specimen like that. Or "Quartz with iron oxide inclusions"; whatever the trace element may be

 

[DDancer]

Well met and welcome to Tnet.
Enjoy AZ lots of stuff to find there. Your first pic is what I call pale jasper though its more properly chalcedony. Burntbear pretty well nailed it with your other specimens. If you've the time you can get up near some of the copper mines, Silver Bell is a good one and the hills below Ragged Top, to find some nice bits and colors.

 

[rodoconnor]

x66 It might be a good idea to eye loop the quartz pieces you find. You never know what goodies are hiding in the cracks. G/L

 

[BurntBear]

x66 It might be a good idea to eye loop the quartz pieces you find. You never know what goodies are hiding in the cracks. G/L

Agreed!

 

[xander66]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! We're going to go out again this week, and now I have a better idea of what to bring home!
DD, as far as the jasper/chalcedony rock goes I'm a little confused. But, it seems that the internet is as well when placing overlapping labels such as this. What I'm getting is that since my stone is totally opaque, I should call it a jasper, as chalcedony seems to require translucency. Is that about correct??
It does have some banding though around the edges which made me want to call it an agate, but the agate page says agates are just a type of chalcedony...so I guess mine can't fit there? Haha its all a little confusing, labels have never been my strong suit.
Thanks again everyone, once I get some wire I'll be back in business with some cool local pieces!

 

[Eu_citzen]

Chalcedony is a "group" name, a group of several minerals. Agate, Jasper are some of the members of that group.

Its been an ever raging discussion on that, not to mention a lot of confusion.

I like to see it as a family. Chalcedony tells you what family and agate/jasper tells you the "person", or the mineral in that family.
Each one has some typical signs on which you can tell whom is whom, although its not always easy, and in doupt its always best to just say chalcedony.

 

[DDancer]

Pretty much as EU says. Agates I look for specific banding patterns, Jaspers are qualities like color (strong), opaqueness (usually lack thereof) and fracture patterns(flinty), chalcedony color (usually lack of), opaqueness (common) and softer fracture patterns like yours.
As EU also indicates there are lots of variables so poking a rock into one class or another takes a bit of experience to figure out~ and I'm no means an expert. *grin* I have a lot of stuff that just falls into "its a neat rock" category and I find a lot of Leaverite.

 

[xander66]

Soooo.... chalcedony doesn't have to be transluscent?
And doesn't jasper tend to be opaque? Sorry if this thread has gotten off topic now, I'm wishing I had just taken a mineralogy course before I graduated!

 

[Eu_citzen]

Jasper is opaque, but is still a member of the chalcedony family.
So chalcedony can be opaque to. But never transparent.

Basically we can say so:
If we have a opaque chalcedony with a strong red colour (for example) that will tell us its jasper.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[DDancer]

Jaspers:



Chalcedony:


Agates:


Note the colorations, texture, fractures and opaqueness of the examples~ these are what are some of what I look for as I define whats presented.
There are lots of variations for the mineral chalcedony however they tend to fall into certain ruff groups with a lot of finger pointing afterwards

 

[xander66]

You guys are pretty helpful!! I think I understand this, and it seems like its not really something you can be TOO wrong about. I actually found a little chunk of agate I forgot I had in my rock box and I am confident in the ID.

Thanks for the clarifications!