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Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 9:18:02 GMT -5
The stromatolite thread reminded me that I still haven’t figured out what my not-Mary-Ellen is… when I picked it up I was so sure it’s a Mary Ellen, but after washing and cutting I was all… 🤔 ? hematite streak color, 6.5-7 mohs, all visual inspection (naked eye, 10x, 40x) sure LOOKS like jasper+hematite+maybe quartz or chalcedony… but I’ve never seen this pattern before! The minerals are clustered in “flecks” that are visible to the naked eye? I had assumed it was a jasper/hematite mix that I just hadn’t learned the name of yet, but have gotten nowhere trying to figure that out. The only picture I’ve found that looks like this rock is This older thread, but won’t get my hopes up!
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Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 9:22:54 GMT -5
My phone sucks at focusing but tried some closer shots with mechanical pencil for scale. You can SEE those flecks.
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Post by susand24224 on Jul 3, 2024 15:17:56 GMT -5
I don't know what your rock is, but out of curiosity, where do you live? I used to pick up similar things along the railroad tracks in SW Virginia, some of which took a great polish.
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Post by chris1956 on Jul 3, 2024 15:37:06 GMT -5
Kind of looks like this. I realized after I took the picture that you can't see the hemitite in my rock either. I guess it is the angle that I took the photo from. When I found this rock and started looking for what it could be I came up with oolitic jasper. Although most of the web images I see now show different material. I found it in northwest Missouri but all our glacial rocks come from Minnesota and maybe the western part of the UP of Michigan or further north. If you are in northwest Wisconsin, yours probably came from the iron range in the UP of Michigan. Chris
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Post by chris1956 on Jul 3, 2024 15:38:17 GMT -5
PS. It may or may not polish well. Depends on how hard it is.
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Yard rock
Jul 3, 2024 15:46:41 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 15:46:41 GMT -5
chris1956 thanks for the hint! It doesn’t look the least bit like oolites to me, but following that search I found people calling it “oolitic jaspilite” which makes a tiny bit more sense. Not banded like BIF/jaspilite, not swirly like Mary Ellen, not breccia, not oolites… oolitic jaspilite doesn’t sit well with me but at least it kinda makes sense
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Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 15:50:04 GMT -5
susand24224 I am in northwest Wisconsin, about 1.5hr from Duluth/superior. I’ve been seeing these rocks my whole life but didn’t try to NAME them til now, and quickly ran into a dead end!
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Post by chris1956 on Jul 3, 2024 15:54:04 GMT -5
chris1956 thanks for the hint! It doesn’t look the least bit like oolites to me, but following that search I found people calling it “oolitic jaspilite” which makes a tiny bit more sense. Not banded like BIF/jaspilite, not swirly like Mary Ellen, not breccia, not oolites… oolitic jaspilite doesn’t sit well with me but at least it kinda makes sense You could be right about people just calling it that. Here is a link to someone selling it. The definition of oolitic mentions small concentric circles of material. www.etsy.com/listing/1704026586/3lb-18oz-red-oolitic-jasper-raw-mineral?gpla=1&gao=1&
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tribeunited
fully equipped rock polisher
Not all materials look exactly the same. But all exact materials are exactly the same.
Member since May 2024
Posts: 1,852
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Post by tribeunited on Jul 3, 2024 16:18:59 GMT -5
OMG I was going to suggest tagging you chris1956 - I kind of had a hunch you would know
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,751
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Post by Mark K on Jul 3, 2024 16:49:55 GMT -5
Looks like the same crap we have here from time to time. I have never gotten a good polish on it. Try the widow on the chunk and see if it polishes. May or may not. Not out much if not.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 3, 2024 16:56:26 GMT -5
To me, it just looks like red jasper and hematite, which has no name that I know of. I have a bunch of it. As you have noted, there's a lot around. I think the oolitic look is just the clusters of jasper interspersed with smaller clusters of hematite. Though, I could be completely wrong.
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Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 17:07:13 GMT -5
Thanks guys! Guess there’s just not really a name for this pattern. What would you call it if you were selling something made with it (assuming it polishes)? Jasper? Hematite jasper? Btw it really drives me nuts that there’s a billion picture jaspers and wonder stones, yet I’m stuck calling all agates “lakers”, any color or pattern of rhyolite is simply rhyolite… *sighs* except for lakers, the agate and jasper index only lists things for Minnesota and Michigan, as if Wisconsin isn’t between them 😭 we got rocks. No specific types of rocks, I guess… just rocks
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 3, 2024 18:35:53 GMT -5
Thanks guys! Guess there’s just not really a name for this pattern. What would you call it if you were selling something made with it (assuming it polishes)? Jasper? Hematite jasper? Btw it really drives me nuts that there’s a billion picture jaspers and wonder stones, yet I’m stuck calling all agates “lakers”, any color or pattern of rhyolite is simply rhyolite… *sighs* except for lakers, the agate and jasper index only lists things for Minnesota and Michigan, as if Wisconsin isn’t between them 😭 we got rocks. No specific types of rocks, I guess… just rocks Yeah, Wisconsin does have a lot of rocks. My understanding is that glaciers brought them down. I'm sure there must be a few named ones, but I can't think of them.
I have sold pieces with this and called it red jasper and hematite.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 3, 2024 18:36:51 GMT -5
Sorry, I can't post a picture in a reply. Here is one that came from Wisconsin. A fellow member sent it to me.
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Yard rock
Jul 3, 2024 18:40:49 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 18:40:49 GMT -5
There moraines from 3 different glacial lobes within 2mi of me, and my house is on a pocket moraine for one of them (no clue which). I got rocks. Lots of rocks. But since Wisconsin doesn’t exist there’s no point in naming them 😆 even books about the region give more generic of names… jasper, rhyolite, epidote, sandstone… geologists think my local sandstone and quartzite is pretty neat, but not rockhounding books! Think I’m giving up on the yard rocks for awhile. Hubby jokingly says “it’s a rock” when I show him things, but guess he’s right. It’s just a rock…
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Yard rock
Jul 3, 2024 18:41:50 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 18:41:50 GMT -5
Sorry, I can't post a picture in a reply. Here is one that came from Wisconsin. A fellow member sent it to me. That’s exactly this rock! Mine has some pitting at the edges but the center seems quite solid so I expect it to work up a lot like that example
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 3, 2024 18:44:09 GMT -5
It polished up nicely and the hematite looks really good with the red. Messy to cab though, given the hematite. Here's a pic in the sun. The other is in a light box.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 3, 2024 18:47:47 GMT -5
It does seem kinda crappy that there are few named stones in WI considering all the rocks. You can call them by a name yourself by denoting the area it is from. That is not only perfectly acceptable, but preferable.
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Post by cabby on Jul 3, 2024 18:49:56 GMT -5
Exactly what I was expecting! Saw this rock everywhere when I was growing up in Minnesota, including tumbles at gift shops or fair prizes. I recognized it visually when I saw inside this rock, but I couldn’t match it to anything I can find in books or online, and even searching for various hematite+jasper terms wasn’t showing THIS pattern. So went through testing to confirm that I really do know how to recognize these minerals…
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 3, 2024 18:51:29 GMT -5
Yup, MN has plenty of red jasper and hematite.
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