rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 13, 2018 20:39:45 GMT -5
Gotcha, thanks to both for the lesson 👍. Makes sense that the outside would be the most reliable place to see wood texture.
Great pics woodman!
Think I was out at Hampton Buttes once but didn't put in enough effort to find anything good & not enough experience with wood.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 13, 2018 15:12:22 GMT -5
Beautiful greens there! Here comes a question from someone without much pet. wood experience, but what characteristics show you that it's pet. wood?
Also, great jasper. When I lived out west, always underestimated jaspers & browsing this site has really showed me that was a mistake. So many interesting patterns, 'scenery' like in your last slab.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 13, 2018 11:35:46 GMT -5
Thanks vegasjames. To pauls & fantastic5, thanks for the thoughts. I considered aragonite as well, though ultimately went with calcite since many of the crystal shapes have clear rombhoid shaped terminations. Not sure if that's a good indication or not. Could even have aragonite & calcite in the one rock since both were present in similar marine animal/shell environments. I do have an interesting KY agate that has an almost identical look to so-called Turkish stick agate, which I believe is aragonite pseudomorphs, just randomly oriented sticks with a flat termination. Kind of afraid to cut it because it looks so unique, but probably will eventually cut and post it someday 😊. Adam, I do remember seeing your post with the pseudomorphs, my impression was that it looked like aragonite pseudomorphs in your piece. Thought I responded to that thread, but maybe not. I would definitely be up for hunting sometime, if I remember correctly, looks like a lot of your finds come from rockcastle area? I'd like to do more hounding around there. I'm happy to cut up some rocks for ya, but right now I'm not in KY for a while, might be moving soon. Celestite is well kniwn from KY, I've read about it in books & have seen it in collections from KY collectors more knowledgeable than I. Smithsonite, mostly saw it identified in KY geodes on mindat, & compared it to my mystery rocks from the millerite region. Stay in touch & best of luck. Fossilman, nice! So many geodes without agate, glad ya got lucky .
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 9, 2018 1:09:55 GMT -5
Thanks ya'll! Garage Rocker, it was pretty wild to see that Kentucky shaped slab come off a plain ol chunk! Just looked like the basic moss agate rectangle that most hunters leave behind. Seems so improbable considering that it had to be clamped into the saw juust so, without any prior idea that would happen 🍀. Alikat218, fernwood & rockjunquie, glad you like those, because by KY standards these are considered plain 😉. I agree though, the patterns from the atypical locations are unique, fine patterns, different from the material in the typical central KY counties. Fantastic5 & for that matter everyone, do you think that it looks like calcite pseudomorphs? I've never seen those type of star-like clusters in KY, & I've seen a lot of calcite here. Melhill1659, good luck hunting KY ;-), hard to figure it all out here, where to hunt (it's illegal just about everywhere beyond private land), which rocks to pick up (tons of look-a-likes), but you can make some great finds here & there are a couple places to go. You can always knock on doors & ask to hunt in peoples backyard . Fossilman, if you see this, find any interesting minerals in your geodes, or nice quartz?
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 6, 2018 11:27:03 GMT -5
Next up, three agates from KY, but all found far away from the known agate counties. Basically, a little secret, I've concluded that agates are possible anywhere in Kentucky where geodes are found. But, they are super rare in these abnormal localities, gotta haul and cut hundreds likely suspects to find one. Awesome post! I have an uncle AND a cousin who both have the typical KY geodes on their farms - now this has made me want to go and gather as many of them as I can looking for the 1 in 100 with agate inside. You would think a person could tell by the weight maybe - yes? Thanks tommy. Overall, I'd say that odds of finding an agate in the average KY geode zones are more like 1 in 300 or so, if you just pick up any promising solid geode or nodule. 1st trick is differentiating geodes from nodules. Nodules or agates will be solid chalcedony. Most nodules are bleh looking. After developing a good eye for recognizing which ones are solid chalcedony nodules in the field, then your odds are more like 1:100 or maybe 1:50 to find a decent agate. Depends on where in the state. More rocks will have some little bit of banded chalcedony inside, but a true agate is that rare. The weight is pretty misleading since a lot of the geodes have heavy minerals like calcite, lead etc. The way to increase your odds is to look for certain skin/rind textures & translucency. Chipping the surface can help, but sometimes you'd have to chip pretty deep, & it's likely to break the rock. You can also try tapping with rock hammer & listening for the chalcedony 'ring', but that's never worked for me as the solid/ingrown quartz crystal geodes sound just like nodules to me. Also, many KY geodes are beautiful, & of course in that case, you want the hollow ones. In various parts of the state, I've found nice calcite (pink, orange), decent fluorite, lead, millerite, fine quartz crystals including citrine, smoky & raspberry, & what I think is smithsonite in brown, red & bluish. Always wanted to find a celestite geode, & have seen several from old KY collections, but still eludes me. If you mention the county names where your family has land, I could give you a better idea of the odds & what you might find. Feel free to PM if that's better. & very cool that your family owns land in geode country! Wish mine did, I'm always begging &/or bribing for access 😅. One of my new tricks is 'hey, saw the dead ash tree about to fall on your driveway, barn etc, I'll cut it for ya if I can look for rocks on your property'😉.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 6, 2018 0:45:48 GMT -5
Cool! Def looks coral, you can see those star-shaped polyp remnants, great piece in my book because the agatized bands are so well defined 👍.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 6, 2018 0:43:55 GMT -5
Here are some more rocks that I've recently hounded & cut. 1st, this Kentucky agate with what I've guessed are pseudomorphs after calcite. At least the star shapes look like the 'radiating clusters' of calcite. Multiple slabs from the same rock, & then detail of what looks like cross-sections of a rhomboid here. Maybe boring ya'll with so many shots of 1 rock, but I've never seen anything like that & it fascinated me. Then, was slicing up a typical KY agate chunk with orbs, opened up the saw, & this slab was laying there, exactly as it appears here! Couldn't believe my eyes 😅👍. I have the whole stack of slabs to show that it fits into a natural sequence, & all covered w/ natural rind. Next up, three agates from KY, but all found far away from the known agate counties. Basically, a little secret, I've concluded that agates are possible anywhere in Kentucky where geodes are found. But, they are super rare in these abnormal localities, gotta haul and cut hundreds likely suspects to find one. Final one for now, a changeup ⚾️, this one was found up in a new england state! Old records indicated agate here. It's prob about 6.5 mohs, multi-colored chalcedony, & from this location I found good material in many different colors.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 6, 2018 0:11:46 GMT -5
Was gonna guess graphite for the 'silver/charcoal' messy stuff, since it looks so crumbly/soft. Hardness test would answer, or streak test.
The potential limb cast looks like an agatized coral to me, possibly from Florida or Georgia. Bit my tongue at first, but after seeing the texture on the back, looks like coral. But then again, I've got about 0 experience with limb casts. If it is coral, it's a beauty. You might check out the hardness of the white material, since white opalized lining is pretty typical in FL/GA coral.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 5, 2018 20:40:05 GMT -5
Cool agates in the first two pictures! Can't help too much with ID there, but the 3rd one, looks like rhodonite rather than rhodochrosite, since it has the black manganese oxide veins typical of rhodonite.
If you plan to cut the rhodonite, try to consider where the fractures are located so that you don't wind up with a last minute heartbreak. Also, the black manganese will make a rich black pigment that can get pretty messy with grinding ;-).
*hehe, gmitch067 beat me to it, but still be careful if cutting/carving 👍
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 5, 2018 19:58:27 GMT -5
From here, these resemble marine fossiliferous chert, again, very similar to material that I find in Kentucky, West Virgina, & other midwestern limestones from the Mississippian.
If it is hard enough to be chert, definitely takes a great polish. Can also have some really scenic fossils or patterns in there & make some good cabs, carvings etc.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Mar 5, 2018 19:50:09 GMT -5
Howdy, I find similar pseudomorph pieces in limestone quarries around Kentucky. The ones I find have two different types of replacement.
So overall my best guess as to ID has been that one type is dolomite replacement after aragonite, & the other is limestone replacement after aragonite.
I do occasionally find good, nice amber brown aragonite crystals themselves, with this ridged columnar shape (obviously not a geologist, lol, I'm sure there's a technical name for that crystal shape). Also, in the same environments, tend to find calcite, dolomite, other aragonite crystal shapes, & occasionally a bluish green massive mineral which is almost similar to a soft turquoise.
Cool pieces!
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 24, 2018 23:03:13 GMT -5
The Withla. coral is always a nice change of pace for cutting, fun to figure out how to approach it. I often find nice fortification corals in the piles of material discarded by other hunters. Always makes me wonder what stuff they were keeping. Piece # 2 has this extremely glittery golden drusy, a pic from the 'back' of that one.. & this picture of a round 'head' showing fortifications. I'm afraid to cut these types since I'm not real familiar with the how they're oriented. Banding might not translate to the interior of course, but anyone with more experience have any pointers?
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 24, 2018 22:55:45 GMT -5
Not sure how to describe it exactly, but I find the 'shadowing' effect on the first piece to be really fascinating. That's beyond the general awesomeness of both pieces!
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 24, 2018 22:53:34 GMT -5
Ditto on the cleverness of the state cutout on the back. What a great idea, not too hard & especially relevant with all the focus on 'local' stuff these days.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 23, 2018 22:59:54 GMT -5
Got some nice withlacoochee coral (#1,2,3), few KY agate pics from my (fairly) new agate land (#4,5,6), then, a couple pieces from a mid-atlantic state not known for agate 😉. Pics 7,8,9 & 10 are all the same chunk, then another specimen, pics 11 & 12. Not giving any more info re the location 😏.. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 23, 2018 22:12:03 GMT -5
Thanks Fernwood, think I get oolites now after your description & a little research. We actually have tons of oolitic material around in KY, mostly crumbly lumps of plain oolites, & oolitic limestone. Just never knew what it was before. Think I even found some oolitic agate, piece pictured below, top & 1 side I ground down to see better. This is the only solid piece I've noticed yet. & lookatthat, indeed, eggs & coprolites, 😅
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 22:36:51 GMT -5
Well, I think that as a group we have now suggested just about every common fossilized material as a possibility . Unless we have any takers for trilobite? Nautilus? 😉 At least we can assume that one of the options in the thread is correct. But having the piece in hand, bryozoan/other similar 'pored' marine creature seems most likely. Rmf, I can see why you'd think quartzite, since the rock actually has sand/desert caliche still stuck on the outside. Hasn't really been cleaned, & pics are pretty small. If you had the piece in hand you would see that each of those grains is only the top or bottom of a long tube, the whole Rock being composed of roughly parralel tubes. Lacks any real quartzite 'grain'. Fernwood, interesting thought, I've never really understood what oolites are, and after briefly browsing Google, still don't really get it, haha. Can oolite material be composed of a cluster of parallel tubes like what I described above? Tubes like what you'd see in a natural sponge or coral. *& yeah, in my limited opinion, the second piece probably would be best classified as a Jasper, even if it is a fossil replacement.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 12:01:43 GMT -5
I'm not seeing any sign of reptile skin in either. Scale patterns should show some degee of pattern or order. Random grooves have some other origin. JusT an alternative perspective. Maybe I need a larger image. Think the random cut grooves on the surface may indicate the piece being dragged along some hard surface? They're from a pocket of ancient river gravels near Blythe, CA. I felt like they had been tumbled/washed along for some time.
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 11:58:38 GMT -5
Those are really cool. The texture reminds me of something, I just cant place my finger on. Ditto, especially the 2nd piece just seems so complex....
|
|
rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 11:57:57 GMT -5
Thanks for all the input!
Rocks2dust, you got me there for a minute, dino toe 😅, I can be pretty gullible... But it does look a little like skin when viewed from above the vascular bundles!
Peruano, I agree, definitely something hard to quite 'put a finger on' for id...
Sabre52, excellent, bryozoan/coral/sponge of some type seems most likely! Especially apparent in the 1st piece. Makes sense because I seem ever drawn to the ancient inland sea material. I even put that piece on a pile of KY fossil corals/sponges/clams like it somehow belonged there, even though I thought it was wood/dino.
|
|