celt40
noticing nice landscape pebbles
KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOCK STEIN.
Member since July 2009
Posts: 99
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Post by celt40 on Aug 6, 2009 8:12:09 GMT -5
Can anyone please recomend to me a book that will identify some of the rocks & pebbles that i find on my local beach. I have looked at Amazon etc to see if i can find anything, but i only see books that are too advanced for me. I know "Collins " do books on things like "Trees, Flowers, Birds & Sea shells. I just want something that will simply show a picture and i can try to match what i find. Here in West Coast Scotland there are lots of nice looking pebbles & rocks, but i do not have a clue what they are!!!!!  |
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Post by tkrueger3 on Aug 6, 2009 9:36:58 GMT -5
Me, too! I don't have a beach to collect them from, but I have a big pickle barrel full of beach rocks purchased via eBay - but absolutely no clue how to identify them. I know some are harder than others, which becomes evident after they've been tumbled, but that's about it.
Tom
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beachbabe
off to a rocking start
My little girl,Abbie, the other beachbabe!
Member since August 2009
Posts: 21
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Post by beachbabe on Aug 6, 2009 10:30:33 GMT -5
I am the same. I pick up some really lovely pebbles from the beaches on the east coast of England in Norfolk and also have no clue as to what they are. I would love to be able to identify them. This is my 1st lot of tumbled pebbles some of which are really pretty.  |
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Post by NatureNut on Aug 6, 2009 10:56:55 GMT -5
Oh my, now they are really pretty. Love the pearliness of the one on the top-left. The two reds on the bottom look like lakers. Nice. Jo
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beachbabe
off to a rocking start
My little girl,Abbie, the other beachbabe!
Member since August 2009
Posts: 21
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Post by beachbabe on Aug 6, 2009 11:01:01 GMT -5
I know,now you can understand why I would like to put names to them.
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Good Vibrations
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Overanalysis leads to Paralysis
Member since May 2009
Posts: 91
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Post by Good Vibrations on Aug 6, 2009 11:50:12 GMT -5
celt40 - I haven't been able to find a relevant reference either. I have a few rock & mineral books that have ID sections in them, but their specimens don't seem to match my beach rocks! I'm still looking. If I happen to locate anything I will let you know.
beachbabe - Nice work! Don't you love how tumbling brings out the intricate patterns & colors? I'm on the Southern California coast, and I have found similar beach rocks here and on the central coast.....like that really narrows down the identification process! ~Erica
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celt40
noticing nice landscape pebbles
KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOCK STEIN.
Member since July 2009
Posts: 99
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Post by celt40 on Aug 6, 2009 14:46:55 GMT -5
Thanks Erica i have contacted a Lapidary club and asked if anyone can advise me of any such books. Wow surfin USA California.........how's big Arnie.
Dermot.
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Post by LCARS on Aug 7, 2009 12:03:11 GMT -5
The problem with stones you find on the beach is that there are literally a ZILLION diffrent types of rocks you could end up finding.  The ocean has a habbit of mixing everything up from all over the place and sloshing it up on the beach at random so a book encompassing all the types of rock you might find on the beach would have to encompass ALL the different types of rock that come from all over the world!  You would at least have to narrow it down regionally and find a book that concentrates on stones from the area you are collecting in. So, if you are collecting on the California coast beaches you'd want to get a book on rocks of western California since those are the most likely to be washed up on the local beaches. |
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GlamRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 105
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Post by GlamRocks on Aug 7, 2009 14:54:43 GMT -5
Hey Celt40, great to see a fellow pebble polisher in the UK. Now about those rocks... I find it tough to identify my beach pickings, and I haven't got half the "choice" you have up there north of the border! But... You may like to look up an old text - it's called The Pebbles on the Beach. I've had mine for 20 years and it was old when I got it. Published in 1954 by Faber, and was written by Clarence Ellis. It is a pretty simple little book, and although the coast line descriptions are all English, the rocks are much the same wherever you find them. I read it as a kid - it's inspirational and informative. Hope you have some fun working out what you've got - and if you ever have an abundance of that glorious Scottish Agate - drop me a line - I'd LOVE to buy some off you!  Cheers and happy Pebble Picking! Harry. |
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celt40
noticing nice landscape pebbles
KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOCK STEIN.
Member since July 2009
Posts: 99
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Post by celt40 on Aug 7, 2009 17:39:46 GMT -5
Harry if i can find some i will send you some down, thats a promise. I need to know what i am looking for as i would not recognise one if it hit me on the head!!!!!! If i can see what they look like in there natrual state it would be a start.
I will look at the book you mentioned thanks. I found a book that is aimed mainly at kids but also for adults called Rock Identification by Usborne. I might give it a go.
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Capricorn
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2009
Posts: 11
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Post by Capricorn on Aug 8, 2009 5:22:01 GMT -5
Hi celt40 and all!
Glad you started this topic - how do we identify UK beach pebbles?
My pebbles are from Suffolk, and they are very similar to beachbabe's. If only they turned out as beautiful!
I bought a second hand book by Edward Fletcher called "Pebble Polishing". It has a few colour pictures, but it does not really explain how to identify pebbles. It does have some maps which show the location of pebbles on the UK. In the west coast of Scotland, you have (according to Fletcher): basalt, sandstone, smoky quartz, grit, conglomerate, agate, serpentine, limestone, amethyst, shale, jasper, mudstone.
Most of the pebbles we pick in the East Anglia beaches are hard, some are very opaque, others are translucent, only very few are very translucent to transparent.
Fletcher's map records jasper, fossils, sandstone, flint, limestone, fossil-bearing flint, milky quartz, agate, chalcedony, carnelian, amber, shale, citrine, mudstone.
My newby's guess is that our white ones are mainly composed of quartz with some component that confers therm a brown-pink(ish) tint. There are some that look like carnelian (which, I read, is a variety of chalcedony), and others that could qualify as jasper. Many could be quartzite, though. (Will post pictures as soon as possible. They are in the tumbler!)
I believe that most of my pebbles are "mongrels" - possibly not purebred or exotic, but still lovely. ;D
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Post by connrock on Aug 8, 2009 7:03:26 GMT -5
I doubt that you will find a book like you want that will ID all of the beach rocks.
Although some types of rocks are found in only one area others are found world wide.The quartz "family" comprises the highest percentage of rocks on earth and most of what you will find that is suitable for tumbling,etc is in that family.
Quartzite is a common rock found on a lot of shores along with jasper.
If you want to do a little ID work on your own you can make a few simple tests to narrow things down a bit.
If the rock is either a solid color or a mixture of several different colors,you can't see through it and a file won't scratch it,you probably have a jasper.
If it is clear as glass and a file won't scratch it,it is probably clear quartz.
If it is opaque or has opaque areas and a file won't scratch it,it is probably an agate.
A "beach rock" agate may look like a rock with solid color(s) with opaque areas running through it.
A "scratch" is NOT just a white streak but an actual scratch that remains in the rock after you wipe it off after scratching it.
This is a VERY simple explanation but it may help you.
So lets see here,,,,,,
What do we call a red jasper that was found on your beach?
To know it's origin is as LCARS said,,,,It may have come from anywhere in the world so "we" have to give it a name.
We will call it ------- ---------- < (your beaches name) red jasper.
So lets say the the name of your beach is Celt Beach.
The name "you" will give that red jasper is Celt Beach Red Jasper.
I don't know if this will help but it may at least get you headed in the right direction.
connrock
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celt40
noticing nice landscape pebbles
KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOCK STEIN.
Member since July 2009
Posts: 99
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Post by celt40 on Aug 8, 2009 7:18:29 GMT -5
Thanks Capricorn & Connrock Your posts have been interesting and helpful to me. I find lots of white round pebbles some with veins and other plain, some glassy and some opaque. And red stones mostly odd shapes and some with flecks of black through them. I just find the looking for stones exciting, you never know what you will find next!!!! |
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beachbabe
off to a rocking start
My little girl,Abbie, the other beachbabe!
Member since August 2009
Posts: 21
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Post by beachbabe on Aug 8, 2009 10:07:40 GMT -5
So my "red jaspers" would be called "Scratby Beach Red Jasper" It doesn't sound very exotic but at least it now has a name, nice one connrock!
I agree with you celt40, it is very exciting looking for pebbles.
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Good Vibrations
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Overanalysis leads to Paralysis
Member since May 2009
Posts: 91
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Post by Good Vibrations on Aug 8, 2009 10:29:26 GMT -5
Wow surfin USA California.........how's big Arnie. Dermot. Hi Dermot, Great thread you started! Right about now big Arnie would probably rather be the Terminator than of the Governor..... connrock - thanks for the very informative response above... VERY simple explanations can be VERY helpful!!! ;D ~Erica |
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GlamRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 105
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Post by GlamRocks on Aug 8, 2009 16:14:36 GMT -5
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celt40
noticing nice landscape pebbles
KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOCK STEIN.
Member since July 2009
Posts: 99
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Post by celt40 on Aug 8, 2009 16:53:45 GMT -5
Thanks Harry.
I have just won a copy of Pebbles on the Beach, on Ebay tonight.
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beachbabe
off to a rocking start
My little girl,Abbie, the other beachbabe!
Member since August 2009
Posts: 21
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Post by beachbabe on Aug 9, 2009 11:21:19 GMT -5
Thanks Harry,
The book listed on ebay now is just up the road from me so I could collect it and save a bit of postage!
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celt40
noticing nice landscape pebbles
KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOCK STEIN.
Member since July 2009
Posts: 99
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Post by celt40 on Aug 9, 2009 12:52:08 GMT -5
I have just won another book on Ebay "Pebbles on Cornwall's beaches identifting + collecting". Yesterday there were no books like this, now i have two within 24 hours. |
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ksk
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2008
Posts: 69 
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Post by ksk on Aug 9, 2009 14:28:25 GMT -5
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