New and Need Your Help

[JohnP]

Let me preface this by saying I am new, and am thrilled to be a member of this site. I am new to rockhounding too, but got addicted a short while ago.

I am currently digging in Western North Carolina where I found a pocket full of these things. They look like the corundum I found in a salted bucket (please don't make fun of me here, but I spent 8 hours digging at hiddenite with nothing to show for it so I dropped the $20 bucks to take something home to show) but I am uncertain. As for location, I found these about 4 feet down about 20 feet from a natural creek bed. I have noticed that they seem to grow around quartz and are extremely close to a bunch of Mica. Any help identifying these would be great. I currently have them soaking in CLR to clean.

Thanks again.

[JohnP]

Oh forgot to mention a few things, there was a lot of it and some of it was big. I have examples where it is growing on the quartz (or sometype of quartzite?) I hit it with a hammer and the inside is black. (got tricked by a few pieces of quartz early on that were discolored.) That's all for now. I don't know the right info to post, so if you need me to do something, please ask.

On the property, I can pull up mica out of the stream by the buckets full, and I found probably about 150grams or so of this in about 8 hours, some pieces big, some pieces small, some pieces in between.

[JohnP]

My guess, either black tourmaline or black sapphire. Not entirely sure, but there's a lot of it here.

[amythestguy]

could you increase the size of your pics a little for a better look?

[JohnP]

Thumbnails are clickable. That's the best I can do at the moment, unfortunately the rest of the stones are in the CLR bath getting cleaned, and it will be another day before I remove them.

[amythestguy]

ha ha stupid me..didn't realize they were clickable..thanks..if you could also get a not so fuzzy shot of the stones that would be very helpful...I know it's tough sometimes

[arappaho]

Welcome to the board, JP!
Your rocks look like they were water-worn at some point.
Instead of tourmaline or saphire, and because of the dark iron color,
I am thinking along the lines of magnetite or hematite. Or some pieces of
the natural 'host' rock in the area. The black interior makes me think of
diabase or some other host type rock.
What color is the streak? Hardness? Is it magnetic at all?
Keep on Diggin! Joe

[JohnP]

Okay, so here's more information:

1) I have a much better camera here at home and I will take some pictures when the rocks are clean, should be of a much better quality (blackberry photos are horrible, I know. )

2) The rocks aren't magnetic.

3) I'll take one out of the bath this afternoon and find a way to scratch it. Also, how do I test hardness? Try to scratch it with quartz? A knife?

4) I have some good specimens of it growing with/on quartz. I'll post those too. Hopefully that will help.

John

[JohnP]

Okay, here's the update. Recap: Not magnetic, I can't scratch it with a pocket knife, in fact it took a little of the steel with it. I'll need to find a piece of quartz around here to move up. It is weathered, but I managed to take a few more pictures of it. It really shines in the light. Very pretty.

[arappaho]

Thanks for the pics John , but I don't think I'm going to be of
much help here.
You keep saying you are taking pictures of "it", but it looks like
you've got different rocks there.
Pic one is too dark for me to see much.
Pic 2 looks like quartz mixed with other minerals. Just guessing,
but it looks more like it's from a pegmatite than a granite.
Pic 3. A guess; some form of quartz.
Pic 4 looks like a worn schist the way it's cracking in straight lines.

Maybe some folks that have done some digging up that way will
be more help. But keep on diggin' and follow the quartz!
You got to look at a lot of rocks before you find "That One".
Joe

[JohnP]

I'd be more than happy to ship or delivery a few samples to someone, it's hard to identify based on the pictures, but these are heavy and very durable.

[JohnP]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I'm certain now that the creek ran over these at the time, as I have found practically nothing but smooth stone. Also, although the pictures make the rocks look different, they have the same feel about them. I found a piece of sharp quartz and the quartz left pieces on the stone, so it's definitely above a 7 on MOHS. I'm still learning here, so would love to see what one of the pros do to it. I have some large samples including more of it on quartz. I'll take a picture on a brown towel to show you and post momentarily.

[JohnP]

Okay, so the brown towel was a "good towel" whatever that means in girlfriend talk, so I had to use a fuzzy white one. lol

Here's more pics:

[JohnP]

Oh quick note, disregard the ruby in the lower left, was attempting to scratch it with the ruby, but couldn't tell which one was scratching.

[JohnP]

Here's the ruby:

In case you couldn't find Waldo in the first picture of my second set.

[amythestguy]

looks like schist to me

[JohnP]

Thanks, interested in getting a few pieces to look at in the mail? You can keep them if they turn out to be something interesting.

John

[hydrogeologist]

Looks like run-of the-mill water-worn mica schist. WNC is full of schist outcrops and creeks that cut through them. The really interesting stuff comes from the pegmatitic intrusions that cut into them or the really nice garnetiferous schists like the Little Pine Mine. Happy hunting, though.

[JohnP]

Thanks for all the help folks. I'll keep looking. So many rocks, so little time.

[scott]

I would guess water worn diabase rocks. And you are most likely correct when you say the creek ran over them at one time. Place yourself a thousand years earlier in time. The creek was at a higher elevation because it hadn't eroded down to its current elevation. Creeks and rivers are always eroding the earth and digging deeper and deeper into the earth. The colorado river is one of the best examples on earth of this behavior.