Let's get this party started!!!

[Phillip_in_NM]

I don't know how much I'll be able to add to this forum once it gets rolling, but I would like to share pictures of three of my favorites.

The crystal and the petrified wood are both from central New Mexico near a coal mine. I have no idea what kind of crystal it is, it just fascinated me with the big blades and the depth between the blades.

The other item is something my dad brought home to me almost 50 years ago. He found it in his job of walking out a power line to find the break. What you see is what happens when a power line hits wet sand. The outside is gritty, and you can see the glass in the middle. At one time, I still had the portion where the power line entered the sand, but it got lost in one of our many moves.

The petrified wood is the only one I've ever seen that is completely black.

Thanks for looking.

 

[KinTN]

I'd call your powerline mineral a 'manmade fulgarite'. Neat!

 

[mudpuppy]

The Wife loves rocks. We have taken some nice samples from every where we have lived, buckets and buckets of the dm things...we have a rock sculpture out in front of the house, its just rocks piled one on top of each other, balanced, they fall over and I restack them...good therapy...Shes got Granite, Limestone, Mica, Rose Quartz, all large boulders that she made me bring home...I told her granite weighs 180lbs per cubic foot, but she dont care, its up to me to figure out how to get them home..she even bought a boulder at a garage sale! Took three guys and myself to get it in the truck! Of course I was the only one around to unload and place it...she likes Petosky stones, they are cool..probaly could make a pipe out of them since they are soft? I found a large chunk of anthracite coal a few weeks back while out detecting in Lake Michigan... must have washed off a steam ship back in the day, of course I toted it home and added it to the sculpture since it was so shiny and black and looked cool..and she liked it..
Mud.

 

[old lineman]

I've seen where a line went down and made a glassy obsidian looking stuff. Use to have some of that around here somewhere, probably under the snow with the rest of the rocks,
.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

KinTN - cool! Had to look up fulgarite, though. Really neat! Learned something new today. Gotta say it was pretty cool for my dad to bring it back to me. It started out almost 30 inches long. My mom later told me my dad lugged that heavy thing almost five miles over rough ground to bring it home to me. Just learned that a couple years ago.

Mud - my wife knows how you feel! In our case I am the rock hoarder. I know little to nothing about them. I just pick up the pretty or interesting ones while I am out detecting. My wife just about had a hissy fit when I told her I would be moving my rocks from this house to the new one we just bought!

Anybody know what the crystal is?

 

[KinTN]

Can you post some more pics of the crystalline rock((include a coin for scale)?

When I hear coal and see that color, I think siderite.
When I hear central NM and bladed, I think barite.
But no way I can say from the pic. Realistically , ID-ing from a pic is iffy most of the time. Best take it to a local geo-college, rock shop, rock hound, or rock show.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Can you post some more pics of the crystalline rock((include a coin for scale)?

When I hear coal and see that color, I think siderite.
When I hear central NM and bladed, I think barite.

I absolutely take some more pictures and post them. I am working a graveyard shift right now but will try to take them tomorrow after I wake up. The crystal is probably six inches by four inches. Could siderite be the main mineral for the petrified wood?

I only feel comfortable identifying a few mineral specimens like mica, petrified wood, quartz and staurolite. Wish you were closer. I have a ton of unidentified rocks I would love to have someone take a look at!

 

[KinTN]

Petrified wood is virtually always amorphous silica (noncrystalline quartz). Siderite is often found in/next to coal veins, tho usually in the form of concretions.
I promise you that there are much more many knowledgeable rockhounds than me near you. But, hey, Post Away and all of here will do our best!

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Here is a picture with a quarter to scale and a dime in between the blades. There were quite a few of these in the area I was in, but this was the best I saw. Since I already had picked up a heavy load of rocks and was carrying my metal detector and water, I just picked the best and left the others.

 

[KinTN]

That looks like fracture filling more than crystal growth to me. What do the rest of you think?

If that's the case, odds are its quartz or calcite. The leftmost part looks like some conchoidal fracturing, so if I had to wager, I'd go with quartz filled fractures.
Again, realizing that IDing from a pic isn't ideal and you really should hunt down a local rockhound.

 

[Explorer]

Well since we are going to get the party started. I have been a geologist for over 40 years and I am considered partially fossilized by now. So expect to get your feet held to the fire when you misidentify a mineral. Don

 

[KinTN]

Absolutely no offense taken, Explorer!
But I've never seen selenite like that. The angles look wrong to me. Note the way the mineral seems to follow a curvature around the light gray to the lower right of the specimen. The mineral just doesn't look crystalline to me either.

But then again, I'm a retired petroleum geo who's mostly rockhounded the eastern US and Alaska. Maybe we can walk Phillip thru a hardness test...? That would easily rule out qtz vs gypsum.
Get someone knowledgeable to do a HandsOn id, Phillip!

 

[Explorer]

Ditto on the hardness test-softer than a knife and no reaction to HCl. Pictures can be very misleading when identifying minerals.
It came out of a gypsum mine. I am a semi retired petro geologist.

 

[Explorer]

Two ponds south of Carlsbad, NM a quarter mile apart. One precipitates salt; the other gypsum on plant limbs. The upper branch is salt.

 

[flinthunter]

Here is a small plate of selenite/gypsum crystals from Mexico. Pictures are of the top and underside of the plate.
[attachment 279437 DSC00100rock.jpg][attachment 279438 DSC00101rock.jpg][attachment 279439 DSC00102rock.jpg]

 

[Larry (IL)]

I have never seen anything like those before (branches) Explorer, incredible specimens. I am a thumbnail specimens collector with a few larger ones.

 

[Explorer]

I think my dear wife wished I was a thumb nail collector. Many would probably be considered yard material but there are reasons they are not outside. The DW figures there are probably several tons of rock in the house. I have rocks I picked up when I was very young and just started. The other problem is minerals and fossils are not the only things I collect and am interested in.

The branches were from some playa lakes that had evaporated down to a super saturated gypsum and salt brines. They were so saturated that it burned my skin while getting them. My oldest son still remembers us collecting them over thirty years ago.

 

[Explorer]

Here is a small plate of selenite/gypsum crystals from Mexico. Pictures are of the top and underside of the plate.
[attachment 279437 DSC00100rock.jpg][attachment 279438 DSC00101rock.jpg][attachment 279439 DSC00102rock.jpg]

Very nice specimens! Most do not realize how hard it is to collect and keep the delicate crystals from being damaged.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Ditto on the hardness test-softer than a knife and no reaction to HCl. Pictures can be very misleading when identifying minerals.
It came out of a gypsum mine. I am a semi retired petro geologist.

I've got a hardness test kit somewhere (We're in the process of moving, so I'm not 100% sure I can find it!). How should I test it?

Thanks!

Phillip

 

[Explorer]

If the veins are quartz or silica they will scratch glass. If calcite it will not. Calcite will react (bubble) when you put even a weak acid like household vinegar on it.
The hardness scale can be found on the internet under Mohs Scale.