bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Feb 12, 2014 17:50:00 GMT -5
Between winter storms a few weeks back we went into the hinterlands looking for "moonstone". We saw pics of material from this particular locale that had the blue flash and all....Didnt find any of that but we brought home a 5gal bucket of some interesting material. I am not exactly sure what constitutes "moonstone" but this stuff when cabbed has iridescent layers in it that are way cool. Any help ID'ing this stuff would be greatly appreciated. Both chunks streak white are softer than agate but not "soft" so probably 6ish on mohs guessing this is a feldspar, possibly anorthoclase in looking at ref books this piece is heavily fractured, but if you let the bits dictate the shapes you can produce some cool pieces. Hoping there is some more intact rough in the stash... Cool colors in this one and while this piece has some fractures, the dark and medium color lines are healed and it holds together nicely. quick cab - colors and fractures make for an interesting composition and it too has iridescence with the right angle/light, and despite the photo takes a shine... and nope, not even the springer nose knows.....
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 12, 2014 20:26:50 GMT -5
That is quartz with some limonite (iron hydroxide)staining, and probably manganese forming the black lines. Just picked up some more pieces yesterday from the tailings of an old abandoned mine here in Southern Nevada.
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Feb 12, 2014 23:31:11 GMT -5
Nice, thanks for the intel vegasjames on #2, it too was from an old mining location. Makes sense that one is a quartz with manganese influence. Still wondering if #1 is a feldspar variety... They are distinctly different rocks. Cheers
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 16, 2014 19:05:23 GMT -5
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