QuailRiver
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Post by QuailRiver on Apr 4, 2018 23:08:51 GMT -5
The last couple of days I've been going through some slabs that I purchased from old collections and ran across this one. It has an old yellowed piece of tape on it marked "Agate NC" in pencil. We don't have a lot of agates here in NC but what I have seen of what we do have are usually not very interesting. Not sure where in NC this is from, or even if it is labeled properly, but I sure wouldn't mind finding out where it is from if it is indeed NC.  Backlit:  Old tape label:  Larry C. |
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Post by RickB on Apr 5, 2018 7:25:12 GMT -5
This looks like what is called Haw River Chert from the Haw River in NC. Native Americans made use of it even though it tended to have many fractures. Rick B
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QuailRiver
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Post by QuailRiver on Apr 5, 2018 13:06:08 GMT -5
I don't think it is chert. It has some areas of plumes and also a couple green crystal cross sections embedded in it which are probably chlorite quartz, which is found in some localities in the piedmont regions of NC and Va.. To my eye it more resembles a type of seam agate.
Larry C.
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
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Post by nchillbilly on Apr 9, 2018 0:02:55 GMT -5
I don't think it is chert. It has some areas of plumes and also a couple green crystal cross sections embedded in it which are probably chlorite quartz, which is found in some localities in the piedmont regions of NC and Va.. To my eye it more resembles a type of seam agate. Larry C. I happen to live in what is considered the southern Piedmont of NC. You couldn't point me in the direction to find stuff like that, could you? All I ever see is blue slate, white quartz, and clay rock. |
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QuailRiver
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Post by QuailRiver on Apr 9, 2018 1:28:16 GMT -5
I don't think it is chert. It has some areas of plumes and also a couple green crystal cross sections embedded in it which are probably chlorite quartz, which is found in some localities in the piedmont regions of NC and Va.. To my eye it more resembles a type of seam agate. Larry C. I happen to live in what is considered the southern Piedmont of NC. You couldn't point me in the direction to find stuff like that, could you? All I ever see is blue slate, white quartz, and clay rock. Rougemont Quarry in Durham County, North Carolina is one of the best known collecting localities for Chlorite Quartz. But back when I used to do a lot of artifact hunting back in the late 70s and early 80s I used to find pieces in plowed fields in eastern Guilford county and western Alamance county. Even found some artifact fragments made from Chlorite Quartz with asbestos and actinolite inclusions. And a guy I used to know found some nice specimens on his grandmother's farm in Martinsville, VA.. There was also a location near Denton, NC for it mentioned in June Culp Zeitner's "Appalachian Gem trails". A lot of the old favored rock and gem collecting localities in NC are no longer accessible to the public. So the best way to get access to the areas that still allow it is through a local mineral club with an active field trip program. |
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