Need help posted in meteor area

hunter2665 · Oct 13, 2014

Just posted pics of a rock I found today but I think I posted it in the wrong area. If any of you rock experts get a chance can you please go take a look at the pics and help me identify the rock. I know very little about rocks except empty them out of your pockets before diving off the boat lol. Thanks everyone.

hunter2665 · Oct 14, 2014

Here's a few more pics. Rock is soft and loaded with this magnetic mineral.

DDancer · Oct 14, 2014

Uhm did you malletize it? And where/how did you find it?

hunter2665 · Oct 14, 2014

DDancer I have no idea what malletize is. But I found it mixed in the dredging that they pull out of the rivers here in south ga on the coast. The same dredging we find megalodon teeth in which went extinct supposedly millions of years ago.

hunter2665 · Oct 14, 2014

DDancer did you mean try to melt it? If so no I didn't. I've spent hours now trying to identify this and it's driving me crazy.

DDancer · Oct 15, 2014

Sorry I was being funny~ malletize : Did you take a mallet/hammer to it and break it up.... or malletization~ the act of fixing something with a hammer

Anyrate funny aside it looks like its breaking up pretty easily. As to it being a meteorite I'll have to say no. You pulled it from dredge tailings so there is a possibility its a conglomerate of metal shavings from the dredge itself. As to minerals it could be a mixture of galena or pyrite and iron stone, possibly magnetite, and its the iron stone in the mix that's cause for the magnetism. The silver material itself is not sticking to the magnet and from the close up picture the black material is the magnetic part. As to the silver material its chunky enough and appears to have flat cleavages indicative of galena and some pyrites. To test for galena, an ore of lead, its pretty easy to just take a torch to a small sample and see if it cooks off and leaves a ball of lead. Pyrites wont cook off. Use caution if you do because both galena and pyrites may pop under heat and that can be painful. Use a face shield and don't breath any fumes as the sulfur and possible arsenic in both materials can be irritating.

hunter2665 · Oct 15, 2014

DDancer I figured you meant to beat it with a mallet. I'm in construction and that was my first thought lol. Thanks for the info but look at this pic. The silver material does attract to my magnet.

DDancer · Oct 16, 2014

If its a mineral specimen then there is most likely some magnetic material inside the silver material. Unless your dealing with something high in nickel or iron by and large most material will act weakly or not at all to a magnet. The end result is the same~ you will have to test it. *shrugs* I can only go by the pictures and what your showing and it appears to be a pretty mixed up specimen.

hunter2665 · Oct 16, 2014

DDancer
Should I cut it with my stone saw for masonry. Or bash it open with my 20lb mall?

DDancer · Oct 17, 2014

Neither. You have enough loose bits you can test easily enough without destroying the speci. I only asked if you had broken it up with a hammer because it looks broken in the first pics and overall looks like its falling apart easily in your hands. A face mask, gloves, a brick and a propane torch are all that is really needed. After heating galena will leave a ball of lead, pyrite will fracture and crumble.

hunter2665 · Oct 17, 2014

DDancer I heated it up with my torch (map gas) to get hotter and it did not melt nor did it crumble. It stayed the same as far as I can tell. Now so you know I can hammer the flakes into dust without heat.

Eu_citzen · Oct 18, 2014

Do a streak test, rubb a piece of the shiny stuff against an unglazed piece of porcelain. What colour do you get?
Can the rock leave a scratch on a knife? Check under magnification to be sure, easy to miss sometimes. :thumbsup: