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Post by gaetama50 on Apr 12, 2010 23:40:01 GMT -5
Hello all, I was hoping that some of you experts could help a novice out with some rock IDs. I'm sure the first set of minerals will be a piece of cake for most of you as I read that its pretty easy to make a rookie mistake such as this one. In the picture are a few stones that have a crust type layer of a blue mineral that I immediately thought was turquoise but now I cant tell the difference between that and chrysicolla. The mineral is quite brittle as you can see from the chips on the left side of the pic. which flecked off during transport. The picture is fairly bright, sorry I don't have a great camera yet. But if anyone can give me a way to tell these two minerals apart based on what I have here that would be great.  The second mineral in question is this dark green crystal formation that is sprouting with quartz on this rock. I am fairly certain of the quartz part but cant place the green. I was thinking maybe olivine?  I know its not peridot but I have been reading of the alternate form of olivine and felt it is the closest to anything I have seen so far. Does any body have a sample that is close to this? I really appreciate any help you can give. And I'm so glad I found this forum.  |
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Post by rickb29212 on Apr 13, 2010 6:17:28 GMT -5
Hi, and welcome to the board. It would help to know the general area that your specimins have come from. Can't positively identify the first one but the second photo looks like epidote on quartz to me. Rick B
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Post by bammer on Apr 13, 2010 7:48:57 GMT -5
I agree with Rick, I appreciate your confidence in "Us" but can you give us a few more clues?
The top stuff, did you collect it? in NV?
Looks like some of the opal/chalcedony I got from out west, some of it was crusty and flakey, seems most everything out there is blue green from all the copper, and everyone naturally thinks turquoise.
We want more clues.....!
Photo 2
Because of the quartz and the color, I agree with Rick on the epidote, possibly Pyromorphite.
Olivine and Peridot I think are found in igneous rocks.
Once again we need more clues.....!
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Post by earthnhands on Apr 13, 2010 8:01:06 GMT -5
how about just pretty! love the green epidote with quartz! get more and figure it out later!
rebecca
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Post by gaetama50 on Apr 13, 2010 8:44:31 GMT -5
Oh sorry that is one major factor that I overlooked when posting this. I found both of these specimens just outside of Fallon NV along the foothills of the Stillwater mountain range along with some small chunks of pet wood, some small pyrite pieces and a decent specimen of amazonite that carries the same color of the first set of rocks with more of a milky silica feel to it. I have a sneaky suspicion that all of these that I have mentioned were brought to the location from somewhere else as aggregate to make the well graded dirt roads next to which I found all of the pieces. 90% sure the aggregate is from NV just not sure it is from that locale. Also if it helps, the first set of minerals is a crust on some type of sedimentary rock that is easily broken and aside from pieces flaking off, the mineral is actually harder than its host rock.
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Post by dwtdenver on Apr 17, 2010 10:20:48 GMT -5
The first could be either a low-grade turquoise, or chrysocolla, probably the latter. The second is most likely epidote and quartz, as others have said.
Dennis
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Post by lauriesrocks on Apr 17, 2010 11:36:36 GMT -5
The second one is almost positively epidote, and definitely not pyromorphite.
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I know its not peridot but I have been reading of the alternate form of olivine and felt it is the closest to anything I have seen so far. Does any body have a sample that is close to this? I really appreciate any help you can give. And I'm so glad I found this forum. 
