NC Rhyolite

[arappaho]

Too cold to work today so I'm cleaning out some pics and thought
I'd post these before deleting.

One thing that makes sourcing the rhyolite that artifacts are made of
in this area so difficult is the vast array of types, textures and colors found at
each outcropping of the rock. There can be dozens of different
looking materials per acre of outcrop, and even a variety in the same
rock. Rhyolite was often lain down layer upon layer.
For example in this piece;



I struck this rock on the left side and the force traveled along
the plane of that dark rough textured material until it hit the lighter
finer grained layer on the right. You can see how the force dipped
when it hit the different material.



The lighter "creamy" looking stuff would be much better material
for making tools with. It would knap better.

Here are a few more pics. I put the piece with the "wave" back
in place on the lower one and then spritzed some water on it in
the last pic to bring out some of the color.








There are hundreds of varieties of this stuff, which is what makes
hunting it SO interesting and exciting,
I'm sure you all will agree. ;D

Thanks for looking,
Joe

[rockshine]

Thanks for the mini-tutorial, Arappaho. Explanations such as yours are much more informative than seeing a poorly reproduced photo in a mineral id book which may give a lot of scientific/technical data but does nothing to help the amateur rocker actually id a less than perfect specimen in the field. When I encounter collectors on Chunky Gal Mountain who are new to the site, the most common comment is, "But this doesn't look like the picture of Ruby in the book."

[arappaho]

Thanks, rockshine. And you are right, the pics in the books
sometimes do little to help develop an eye for in the field.

Joe