Catawba County finds, resized pics

[tracey]

Sorry about the previous post with way too large pics, the hub resets my quality and never switches it back!

Anyway, I found these rock with plates at wild orientations and lots of drusy. I've looked thru lots of Mindat photos and have yet to find what I feel is a good match.

I actually need more plate pictures, but I like how this one shows the drusy wrapping around


other pieces have the sheets forming what hollow angular box lined with drusy



a very thin delicate one found by my daughter with what she named "sea weed" drusy


a fun little disco ball


behind the disco ball you can see how several sheets/shapes have come together and will likely fall apart with more cleaning


and bubba teeth for Holloween


all these were collected from a residential lot near the south east base of Bakers mountain in Catawba County, NC

[robwhaley]

Hi Tracey,
Very nice finds of angle-plated a.k.a "cellular"quartz with drusy in the "cells." I'm surprised the schoolteacher lady on the adjacent property didn't yell at you, even though the site is not on her property. On small sites like this it is unlikely that Mindat will have any information, especially since it was not actually a mine.
Rob Whaley

[tracey]

giggling at Rob, do you know the spot, or is there just ALWAYS and old school teacher around to yell at rockhounds?

I wasn't searching the site on mindat, but things like muscovite and looking at ALL the pictures

Cellular quartz is and excellent description I had not thought of

Thanks!

[robwhaley]

Tracy,
It's possible the crusty schoolteacher rotates from one collecting site to others... Actually, I have been there, but not for 15 years. She probably became a superintendent and moved to a better neighborhood.
I have heard of this type of quartz referred to as "box quartz." There was a famous locality for it at Travelers Rest, SC and another near Rutherfordton, NC. Some of the Travelers Rest material weighed 30 lbs or more.
Rob

[tracey]

Thanks for the info Rob!

Before my first post was deleted (due to me goofing the pics) a Williamb had posted a suggestion of Cleavlandite, is that another name for cellular/box quartz or a different type of stuff, I was thinking something in the silicates family.

As the points get larger and more distinct, at what point does it shift from being drusy to quartz cluster/plate?

Anyone with any thoughts on the Bubba Teeth?

[arappaho]

Bubba be smiling. ;D

[robwhaley]

Tracy,
Clevelandite is a type of feldspar, Albite, that has a cellular habit. As for drusy v. cluster quartz, I don't believe there is a rule for calling it one or the other, but drusy is usually secondary crystallization.
Rob Whaley

[Ryan]

Wow, after looking closely, those really really look like teeth, complete with roots. Those little "catherdrals" of quartz in the "Cells" are so so cool. How deep did you have to go for these?

[tracey]

Ryan, I think they're cool too! But get this, given the wonder that is western NC, NO Digging!

well, almost none by me, a backhoe had been in there tho, and I did a little digging, less than 12" figuring I would find a more intact piece, that's how I got the one with the tiny disco ball, it wouldn't likely have survived on the surface.

I wasn't going to post the site pics, I didn't think they would add much, but they might give some idea.



my 50lb ish 6 year old siting next to the big hunk my dad was trying to dig out, he decided he would never be able to lift it and backfilled around it
www.varockhounder.com/uploads/2010102111155138.JPG[/img

so pleased with herself, but see all those other rocks around? all various forms of this stuff


Hard to spot the insitu veins for all the scatter on the surface


trying to capture an insitu hunk


I hope to get back before someone builds a house so I can see what happens if I chase a vein a bit deeper!