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Post by tkrueger3 on Dec 1, 2010 13:04:00 GMT -5
I picked up this rock just off Texas state hiway 16 near Pipe Creek, Texas, in the runoff area of Red Bluff Creek. It's a good-sized rock, about 6" X 3", and I sliced an end-cut from it last night, hoping to find some nice patterns inside. But seeing it in the daylight, and after washing it, I don't know what it is. I'm guessing probably limestone, but I would have thought it might be more porous. I tested for hardness, and it's about a 3.5-4 Moh's. Coloration is a very subtle pinkish-tannish with very faint blue-gray inclusions and miniscule dendrites. This endcut is about 3" wide X 1.5" tall. You can see on the right side where I scratched it with a nail and some glass, but the copper penny did not scratch it. Anybody (Mel?) have any idea what I should be calling this. (In my imagination, I call it alabaster!) Thanks, Tom
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Post by gr on Dec 1, 2010 13:16:44 GMT -5
Tom, can you do a more close in pic?
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Post by tkrueger3 on Dec 1, 2010 14:05:26 GMT -5
OK, first, here's what the outside of this endcut looks like (the black stuff is road tar): And closeups of 3 different areas of the cut surface: Hope this helps! Tom PS - after studying the closeups, my eyes finally focused in on what I can imagine might be teeny tiny fossil shells of some kind. Is that what it looks like to you? If so, then by golly, it probably is limestone! Eureka!
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Post by gr on Dec 1, 2010 16:42:45 GMT -5
Tom, A type of serpentine? Do you have a 10x loop to check the maybe fossil looking thingys
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Post by tandl on Dec 2, 2010 8:56:09 GMT -5
I can`t see it real good , but i think it is dolomite .
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Post by tkrueger3 on Dec 2, 2010 14:30:24 GMT -5
I think I found it. This pic was one of the hundreds of images of limestone that Google found, and it is almost identical to my rock. So I'm calling my rock limestone. Thanks, Tom
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