|
jerryb
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2006
Posts: 408
|
Post by jerryb on Jan 23, 2007 17:22:55 GMT -5
Dare i say it looks like: COPROLITE? if it is i'll give $1 a pound for it plus shipping. cheers jerry
|
|
chinook203
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2006
Posts: 849
|
Post by chinook203 on Jan 23, 2007 22:12:37 GMT -5
I have no idea, going to do more checking on them. I'll do a scratch test and so on. They are heavy, I have a smaller piece lingering somewhere around here also, then we find chunks like this a lot. The bordering property just did a bunch of grading and digging and I saw more of it too.
|
|
chinook203
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2006
Posts: 849
|
Post by chinook203 on Jan 23, 2007 22:20:26 GMT -5
Ok, just did some reading on coprolite......I don't think its dino doo. I have no reason for saying that, other than I'm in Missouri and have never heard of anything like that being found around me.
|
|
flatumbler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Now totally addicted!!!
Member since January 2007
Posts: 191
|
Post by flatumbler on Jan 24, 2007 0:10:43 GMT -5
Crack one open and lets see the guts of the critter lol.
|
|
yogi
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
Posts: 175
|
Post by yogi on Jan 25, 2007 21:16:50 GMT -5
It looks like bog iron. A very low grade of iron ore, it has a high silica content that requires a lot of processing to produce cast iron. Its named bog iron because it forms in swamps and bogs; ground water rich in iron comes to the surface where the iron is oxidized by chemical or biochemical processes. It was mined by iron age man, mainly the Celts. Bill
|
|
desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
|
Post by desertdweller on Jan 25, 2007 23:18:32 GMT -5
It's wild looking, whatever it is.
|
|
chinook203
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2006
Posts: 849
|
Post by chinook203 on Jan 25, 2007 23:30:51 GMT -5
I'll have to get some more pics, haven't had a chance to mess with it. Bill, we have no swamps or bogs now. Big iron mines around here long before my time. i'll get some scratch tests done eventually.
|
|
|
Post by puppie96 on Jan 26, 2007 3:40:42 GMT -5
It looks like our basic MO flint/chert/jasper/agate. Sometimes they call them brain rocks when the surface is like that. I can't tell from the picture whether it is banded, but often, maybe even usually, if you can break or cut into it all those ridges turn out to be banded. The other side has some nice colors. There's a lot of iron in SE MO in some areas, and pieces sometimes will have similar colors or layers that look (guessing) like an iron ore. I've got a couple of extremely heavy nodules that are colored like that but smoother, that from the weight, must be iron ore. Our local agates get colored by what is around them. Usually I find gray/blue/tan, lace agate, but I know of at least one area where there is a lot of pink and red, beautiful stuff.
|
|
|
Post by puppie96 on Jan 26, 2007 3:41:50 GMT -5
You have a saw, right? Cut into some of the smaller pieces you find & see what shows up.
|
|
chinook203
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2006
Posts: 849
|
Post by chinook203 on Feb 6, 2007 1:17:06 GMT -5
If it eeeeeeeeever warms up, I will try to cut a slab from it. I now have 3 more pieces of this stuff. Tossed in a couple pieces into the tumbler for the heck of it. I still haven't got to do a scratch test on it and am guilty, didn't even check the hardness before it went into the tumbler.
What do you use for scratch test taht I can find easily..........and cheap!
|
|
stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
|
Post by stefan on Feb 6, 2007 13:48:38 GMT -5
A metal file is around 5.5- If the file scratches it- it's considered "soft" if it scratches the file- it's "hard" Now be careful because oftem times one will leave a white mark on the other- You have to actually be able to distinguish the scratch
|
|
chinook203
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2006
Posts: 849
|
Post by chinook203 on Feb 7, 2007 23:43:26 GMT -5
i broke some pieces off of it and have them in the house now, so will mess with it. Lots of iron ore here and one iron mine bordering my property, but not sure if it's the same stuff. I'm surrounded by caves and springs and iron ore I guess from what geology people told me, but I didn't have the rock with me!!! It breaks in chunks, pourous inside so far, but am goingto saw it soon, someday....... Thank you stefan!
|
|
|
Post by puppie96 on Feb 8, 2007 2:25:01 GMT -5
Yeah, you've got the limey karst type stuff like we do across the state below the MO river. It comes in nodules, sheets, etc, variety of colors, some more quartzy than other, some with a lot of druzy quartz. "Cave Rock" as I always think of it. It looks like cave formations. And it is, because it is the broken down remnants of what was once an underground hollow. A lot of it is banded. We've also got the chert/flint/jasper/dolomite/mozarkite family, which I think of as different but also the common rock underfoot: it is usually opaque, may be colorful or patterned, has a lot of fossils, varies in quality with some having a lot of soft areas and other being harder and more uniform, may be cracked or have defects but not the honeycomb quality, may have an occasional crystal vug, not banded but with clouds or swirls of color. Sometimes you'll get rocks with a layer of the more agatized stuff on top of a layer of the more jaspery stuff.
|
|
chinook203
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2006
Posts: 849
|
Post by chinook203 on Feb 11, 2007 17:22:49 GMT -5
Well, one thing is for sure, it leaves a red streak for the color test and it polishes up to look just like hematite. The one picture above where it's rough is a broken off section, all of the specimens I have are looking more and more like maybe kidney ore. When sawed, its definitely not banded.
|
|