Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: lucasorun on 27/05/2018 16:47:57
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[ Invalid Attachment ] [ Invalid Attachment ] [ Invalid Attachment ] I found this rock on a walk on the mountain by my house and was wondering what it actually was. I think it's quartz as it seems to be quite hard and I couldn't dent it or mark it with my pocket knife but I'm not sure what the inclusions in it are? Maybe hematite and mica? Haven't done any geology in a long time so would appreciate some help!
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Hi Lucasorun, welcome.
It's also a long time since I did any geology, and only as a hobby, so there are going to be others who can probably be of more help.
If your knife has a good quality blade and won't scratch it, you are probably right about the quartz.
Do you have reason to think the pink bits are inclusions of a different mineral?
If not, they could be rose quartz. However, in my (limited) experience, specimens containing clear and rose quarts often do not show such well defined boundaries.
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Hey Bill! My knife is quite good so I'm pretty confident that the rock is quite hard, even managed to scrape glass with it so that confirms quartz from what I know of hardness scales?
As far as the different colored parts of the stone it just never occurred to me that it could just be a different kind of quartz since it was so distinct and kind of banded. I'll link a better angle of the rock and show you what I mean. It looks like orange stripes with some metallic shine to them. And to most left one is actually silver? That's what really made me think it wasn't actually quartz [ Invalid Attachment ]
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That looks quite different. The next thing to do is a hardness test on the pinkish bits, and perhaps examine the margins with the point of your knife.
Where are your mountains? From your local time I assume you are on the Eastern side of the Atlantic.
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Yes I'm in Ireland, and i got the sample in the Blackstairs mountain range here in the southeast of the island. Anything you think I should look out for? This type of rock is quite common on the mountain too so I guess it must be something quite abundant!
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Can @Bass offer a diagnosis?
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Anything you think I should look out for?
My dabbling in geology dates back to the 70s. My main interest was in my native Cornwall, but, unfortunately, by that time I had moved to Essex, so fieldwork was very restricted.
From memory, I think you have some very old exposures in your area. Cambrian/pre-Camb?
Afraid I couldn't suggest anything to look for, but there should be helpful information on line.
Also, as Chris suggests, Bass might be a good source of info.
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definitely quartz. The bits of green on the surface are probably organic material. The brown is oxidation of wall rock or some sort of inclusion- could have been some sort of mica??
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Gotta say rose quartz is one of my favorite stones. I have it in a pyramid that I love to meditate with. I bought it from spam.con. There are many beautiful pyramids and jewelry made from rose quartz or other crystal.