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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 5, 2024 22:56:38 GMT -5
I posted pictures of this rock in one of my cab threads...but I'm hoping someone can help ID this thing, so I'm posting it here as well. It was found in Stein am Rhein in Switzerland. Tagging @gabriel on this one... The brown/dark areas are SUPER soft. The green areas are relatively soft. There are pockets of metal in this one as well. Here's what the rock looks like unfinished: Here's what the rock looks like with a face polish: The Yellowish areas in this one is what I think is a metal:
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Post by stardiamond on Jan 6, 2024 16:13:43 GMT -5
It's a hot cocoa, yodeling basalt.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 6, 2024 21:31:48 GMT -5
It's a hot cocoa, yodeling basalt. I read this, and this immediately came to mind! LOL
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 6, 2024 22:43:40 GMT -5
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 6, 2024 22:54:14 GMT -5
Thanks Robin!! That's who I meant to tag!! I can't believe I didn't notice my "tag" didn't actually tag anyone! LOL
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Post by Peruano on Jan 7, 2024 7:29:40 GMT -5
There are some mighty wild and diverse forms that serpentine comes in. I'll look in my trove for some somewhat similar material from southern New Mexico. Now watch my material not be similar at all except in my mind's eye.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 7, 2024 10:13:11 GMT -5
There are some mighty wild and diverse forms that serpentine comes in. I'll look in my trove for some somewhat similar material from southern New Mexico. Now watch my material not be similar at all except in my mind's eye. I'm glad you mentioned that! That was one of my very first thoughts when I first held the rock. However, if it IS Serpentine, it didn't work like the other Serpentine I've worked. All the other pieces I've worked got "slimy" slippery when I was working them. This one was not at all.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 7, 2024 13:34:12 GMT -5
Soft, light green, and likely metamorphic prompts guesses toward the serpentine/olivine and that group, but it gets complex fast when you are in that area.
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Post by rmf on Jan 7, 2024 19:44:25 GMT -5
the green to me looks like a high quartz epidote with hornblende so that might be a amphibole no lapidary name though Or if @perano is correct Olivine and hornblende the it is a Gabbro which is composed of pyroxene and plagioclase depending on % or various stuff. Again no lapidary name other than gabbronorite
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 7, 2024 22:57:45 GMT -5
I did do a little searching around when you first posted this, Jason, and Olivine was mined in Switzerland back when. I bet that's what it is.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 8, 2024 22:37:01 GMT -5
Soft, light green, and likely metamorphic prompts guesses toward the serpentine/olivine and that group, but it gets complex fast when you are in that area. Thanks Tom! I've never worked Olivine - that I know of. I did look up Olivine, and I can definitely see the resemblance! the green to me looks like a high quartz epidote with hornblende so that might be a amphibole no lapidary name though Or if @perano is correct Olivine and hornblende the it is a Gabbro which is composed of pyroxene and plagioclase depending on % or various stuff. Again no lapidary name other than gabbronorite Wow!! Thank you so much! That is some seriously awesome information! Took me down a brief rabbit hole!! I did do a little searching around when you first posted this, Jason, and Olivine was mined in Switzerland back when. I bet that's what it is. Robin, thank you SO much! I find myself doing that sometimes on here as well...someone asks a question...and I start going on a big search hoping to find something useful!!
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Post by Peruano on Jan 9, 2024 6:37:20 GMT -5
I started my rock hounding on the edge of the Rio Grande rift... everything metamorphic and obtuse. I read a lot and realized the complexity of coming up with definitive id's unless you were a geologist or had access to a geological background like rmf. Such expertise is valuable around here.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 9, 2024 22:01:25 GMT -5
Peruano rmf hummingbirdstonesJust wanted to pass on a "thank you" from the owner of this rock. She was stoked to get some ID info! Oh...and stardiamond - she appreciated your comment as well! LOL
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Post by rmf on Jan 11, 2024 13:24:36 GMT -5
jasoninsd I like the cab. It looks like it took a great polish.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 11, 2024 21:07:14 GMT -5
jasoninsd I like the cab. It looks like it took a great polish. Thank you SO much! When I first saw the rock, I had some doubts...but when I face polished the rock itself, I knew what I was in for. I told the owner there was going to be undercutting due to the softer brown material...and tons of fractures in/on it. Here's the other cab I made from it:
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