Some of my purdy rocks - Quartz, Garnets, Mica, and other Mysteries...

[Backcountry]

Hey Folks,

I'm happy to have found this forum! I spend my share of time wondering around in the bush, and have a bad habit of filling my pockets with rocks that catch my eye. To most folks they are probably just rocks, but to me, they are preciousssss.... Some folks here may appreciate my dirty old rocks as well... I have gold fever like nobody's business, and while I don't think I've found any yet, I have lots of interesting quartz rocks that show signs of having trace gold. One day I will get a gold pan and crush a little up to have a look.

Not sure if it's better to post all these photos in one post or split it up, but here goes... Would love any feedback regarding potential identifications ya'll might have. I'm not an expert, just a rockhound, I know just enough to misidentify a whole lot Thanks!

Rock 1: The Magnet
This neat piece I made into a fridge magnet. Kind of a plain looking rock, but when the layers split apart it revealed lots of 'shynies' on the surface. Looks metallic. Maybe copper?

Rock 2: Ore'y Quartz
A little piece of quartz that seems to have some kind of Ore embedded?

Rock 3: Garnet?
I'm guessing this to be a chunk of Garnet (if such a thing exists?). What really strikes me about it is some of the clear pockets, which show in the photos as the white spots. The 3rd photo shows a really cool clear crystal poking out of the end on the bottom right. In my dreams it's a diamond...

Rock 4: Classic Quartz
This is the type of rock I find the most of. Lots of red and yellow staining. I've got some very large chunks of this type of stuff. Perhaps worth crushing up a few samples. I also notice the bottom of this one is quite ore'y with some nice shynies as seen in photos 2/3...

Rock 5: It Blisters!
One of my favourites, definitely unique to my collection. It's completely covered with small dark red crystals. In my dreams they are rubies, but realistically probably garnets? Would love to cut this rock in half, I bet it has a real cool cross section.

Rock 6: Another Classic
Another chunk of classic quartz with some interesting features...

Rock 7: Quartz Mix
A mix bag here, nothing pretty, but this quartz has a few interesting features. Black crystals on the right side. I love the shiny stuff in the middle. Pyrite or mica? I wish it was gold...

Rock 8: Black Quartz
Found this neat little piece unlike anything else. Interesting black/smoky quartz.

Rock 9: Cool Rock
To me this piece is collector grade and sits on my mantel. It's a nice chunk of quartz with a few things going on. Seems like it has a pretty big metallic chunk, but I guess it's a bunch of mica? Wishful thinking would have it be Ruby Silver...

Rock 10: Metal Middle
Not sure what's hanging out in the middle of this little piece of quartz, but you can't miss it. It's been suggested maybe zinc, but could also once again just be mica...

Rock 11: Quartz and Sticks
Not sure what's going on in this quartz, but has a lot of little stick like deposits. Any ideas, maybe graphite?

Rock 12: Garnety Quartz?

 

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[IAMZIM]

Rock #5 definitely looks to be garnets, think they may be almandine garnet. Rock #11 looks to be quartz with black tourmaline, schorl. Alot of the quartz you have is what we here call "dirty" quartz, and that is what we look for when looking for gold or silver. Alot of these rocks you show, remind me of what I find here near Butte.

 

[Backcountry]

Thanks for the feedback. After looking up Black Tourmaline, that's a pretty good call for #11. And given your definition of dirty quartz, I should post a few more photos of what I think could be silver.

 

[Backcountry]

Here are some of my larger finds that live outside. I think some of them would break up into some really nice pieces, but then again they've stayed together, this long....

A lot of it seems to be a mix of 'dirty' quartz and feldspar...

Rock 13: Rainbow Quartz Chunk

Rock 14: Quartz and Feldspar?

Rock 15: Quartz with exciting yellowing on the end

Rock 16: Big mixed colour quartz

Rock 17: Quartz Bench

Rock 18: Another Quartz/Feldspar chunk

Rock 19: Not Pretty but interesting Looks to be more quartz with black tourmaline

Rock 20: Quartz Block I love the symmetry, lines and subtle purple hues on this one

Rock 21: More Rainbow Quartz

Rock 22: This quartz looks alive...

Ok that's 22 photos... I could have taken lots more. Maybe I have a problem, or at the very least need a bigger yard...

 

[Eu_citzen]

#1 Mica
#3 Quartz
#7 Pegmatite?
#9 Mica, chlorite? Or similar.
#11 Tourmaline or amphibole

#19, Quartz. Those impressions have odd shapes. Go back and look for other minerals where you found it! I would.

 

[Backcountry]

Thanks Eu! Dying for spring to arrive early so I can get back out to hunt...

 

[Backcountry]

#19, Quartz. Those impressions have odd shapes. Go back and look for other minerals where you found it! I would.

Thanks for the tip on this one. Did a closer inspection of this beast today, and there is some interesting stuff going on for sure. I may consider dismantling this one. There are some nice chucks of Tourmaline, in addition the host rock has some cavities I just noticed with some crystal formation in the pockets. Also there seems to be a chunk of greenish rock embedded, which looks interesting...

 

[ice9]

I'd strongly suggest looking for a local gem & mineral club. There you'll probably meet somebody willing to cut your garnet vein, it'd look neat. You will learn a lot!

Also, look up books by Ann Sabina, they will tell you what's in your area and where to go. With a bit of research, you could start finding crystals, fossils, or material worth cutting and polishing.

Local museums and university geology departments are also good sources of info.

 

[DCMetal]

Great collection, I love finding cool rocks. I've have a lot of those pieces in my yard, including the first pic, which looks like mica.

 

[therobertsmith]

Beautiful pictures. I love quartz and I have huge chunks outside that would be interesting to see inside but I have a hard time going through with it. I think the one specimen you have would be nice cut. Keep us posted.

 

[Backcountry]

Hah, I keep looking at my chunk of "garnet vien" and I'm dying to attack it with my chisel and hammer. But I think that was a great trip to try and hook up with a local mineral group, and find someone who actually has experience with cutting rocks. I think I'm too inexperienced with the tools and find breaking rocks to bit a bit unpredictable. I'd much prefer to have a nice smooth cut to view the cross section of the crystals. Whenever I have broken rocks up, I'd say usually I've ended with cooler specimens. But I also understand that it's a one way process and it seems to me bigger is usually better.

 

[Whiplash00]

Did you find these in a glacial area? wow, hang on to #5! that came from deep in the earth, quartz with graphite and some iron oxide. my guess is the graphite is fossil remains of something and those are rubies I believe, very nice piece. #9 is quartz with graphite, chert, and iron oxide. The quartz metal pic could be mica in the center, another angle would help. #14 quartz with jasper? Have #5 looked at by a mineralogist

 

[Backcountry]

Not really a glacial area per se, at least not currently. When I found #5 it really stood out as being in an odd place, sitting on the ground at the bottom of a rock wall. My thinking was that glacial retreat had just left it there, considering the location and shape. Like maybe it was rolled around for a under a glacier or in a waterway. Although had it been sitting there that long, I'd assume it should be have covered with a soil layer or other vege debris. Everything else around was covered in a layer of moss. There was volcanism in the area, so my thinking was maybe this deposit formed in a chimney or something like that. Either way, I'll definitely be scouring that area in the spring. Rubies you say? Well that would be exciting. I think they are probably garnets, but I shall delve into the differences, and maybe see if I can pop one out. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Whiplash00]

The red stones look very similar to the raw rubies found at a gem farm in Tennessee. I have the same rock only there's no rubies. I took it to a mineralogist at the natural history museum in my area for examination and he checked it out. I have some neat things and I'll be sure to share pictures. Do you have a loop?

 

[Backcountry]

Pretty cool, would love to see some of your photos. I don't have a loop yet, but gonna have to get one. My magnifying glass is not much better than useless.

I decided to break up Rock #19 and came out with some nice chunks of the tourmaliney quartz. But what was a nice surprise was to find find a couple of mini crystal pockets. Would love to try and chip out these two little mini plates and clean up the crystals. In 19(B), I'm especially drawn to the shorter clearer crystal that is hiding behind the milky quartz crystal, slight left of the center in the photo.

Rock 19(A): Some quartz crytals

Rock 19(B): And a few more

 

[Whiplash00]

awesome, maybe I'll cut this one in half. I have too much to upload and its hard to find good lighting. I will add my collection to my profile as I go. I have a mix of things from paleolithic stone tools and flakes, ice age and glacial kame cultural tool and flakes, some really cool fossils, bones, and geology.

 

[Whiplash00]

Hey man, what's the area like where you're finding all of this?

 

[Whiplash00]

By that, I mean. What's the elevation and is it hills and valleys?

 

[Backcountry]

Rugged and rocky, plenty of exposed granite bedrock, minor fault shifting. Hills, valleys, ravines, cliffs, lakes, lots of carving from glacial procession.

It occurs to me now the blistered rock was probably pushed against the rock wall as a result of a less ancient waterway. Gives me lots of exploration ideas.

 

[Whiplash00]

Exactly. Look for stone tools, find a cave, use a metal detector. Sometimes a little iron oxide will help you find things that aren't made of metal.