blindbo
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2018
Posts: 18
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Post by blindbo on Jun 21, 2018 8:48:49 GMT -5
Just returned from a trip on south shore and Keweenaw (side stop along Lake Michigan for Petosky's). HAD A BLAST! I gathered about 100 lbs of various rocks - yes, I left several trillion tons there for you. I need help identifying these green rocks from the Munising area.
Showing them here both wet and dry. thanks!
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Post by wigglinrocks on Jun 21, 2018 9:10:03 GMT -5
Slag glass from the iron furnaces . Several years ago we picked up a bunch of purple w/white swirls slag between Munising and Christmas .
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Post by drocknut on Jun 21, 2018 10:18:33 GMT -5
Glad you had a great trip. Always good to get out rockhounding. What other finds did you have? Pictures or it didn't happen...wink wink.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 21, 2018 11:28:19 GMT -5
Yep, slag glass.
Can we see some of the others? Did you find any agates? I hope to get up to the Grand Marais to Whitefish Point area in the next couple of weeks.
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Post by fantastic5 on Jun 21, 2018 14:22:07 GMT -5
Did you run into any difficulties after all the flooding last week? I saw some images of the washed out roads, serious devastation.
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blindbo
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2018
Posts: 18
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Post by blindbo on Jun 21, 2018 17:50:18 GMT -5
I'll post some pics to keep me honestš Slag glass sounds about right...I'll tumble it for my wife.
We had great weather June 1 thru 15. We went Sioux to Copper Harbor and then south through Mackinaw to Petosky. Crazy rain in the beginning approaching the Sioux from Buffalo. Then beautiful all through UP and into Petosky. Little rain in Petosky on 13th, so started our trip back east to bucks county PA. Did a stop at the Montour fossil pit outside Danville PA. Dug small sea fossils in the shale for a few hours. I'll post some of those finds, too.
We just missed the tornado that ripped through Wilksbarre area. We passed through the next day and weather was gorgeous.
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blindbo
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2018
Posts: 18
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Post by blindbo on Jun 23, 2018 8:52:04 GMT -5
Here are a few pics of the found rocks. The baskets are fist sized rocks (left) and 1-2 inch on right. All from the UP side of the lake. The green veined rock is shown wet to better show the pure copper flecks...found in copper mine tailings. The petosky fossils are shown dry. The shale fossils were found in the Montour fossil pit near Danbury PA. YES - pitch in on anything you can identify - I'm just an amateur who loves cool rocks and fossils!
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Post by fernwood on Jun 23, 2018 9:01:42 GMT -5
First photo: I see what might be unakite (the pink/green stone), some jaspers/chert, and lots of cool rocks with potential. Second Photo: Looks like some other coral fossils are mixed in with the petoskey. Third photo: Love the copper.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 23, 2018 10:51:02 GMT -5
Thanks for posting pictures, blindbo . I've identified a few rocks for you. I collect a lot of Petoskey stones, so those are easy to identify. It's hard when they're dry though. I cannot see any Petoskeys in your picture. I see several favosites, which are another fossilized coral. They are sometimes called Charlevoix stones and polish up similar to Petoskey stones. Petoskey stones have much larger, hexagon shaped cells. The hexagons are about the same size as the cross section of a pencil. If you want to post a picture of your rocks wet, I can help you identify them. Unakite is made of the minerals epidote (green) and feldspar (red, orange, or pink). Most of the solid colored rocks in this picture are probably quartz. A polished Petoskey: A polished favosite:
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Post by fernwood on Jun 23, 2018 11:00:27 GMT -5
Yes, the horn coral is correct ID. I was having trouble finding any Petoskey in the photo as well. I think spell check might have changed favosites to favorites. Go with the red writing in photos.
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blindbo
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2018
Posts: 18
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Post by blindbo on Jun 23, 2018 19:21:16 GMT -5
Here are pics of the rocks I found in Petosky...this time all wet. Can you shed light on the different specimens? While we're at it, I read someplace that you shouldn't tumble them. Can you direct me to instructions on how to polish them? thanks!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 23, 2018 20:32:39 GMT -5
Ok you definitely have some Petoskeys. Iāve labeled them with a āPā. Favosites are marked with, you guessed it, an āFā. Some are other fossils, some are hard to identify from the picture. Do a little searching around the site for instructions on tumbling Petoskey stones in a vibe tumbler with corn cob media. Put my username in the search. You can also hand polish them with automotive wet/dry sandpaper. I bought a variety pack of 3M sandpaper that ranged from about 80 grit to 800 grit. You can finish them with aluminum oxide on denim with a little water. Thatās how I did the one in my avatar. It took about an hour to do one side. Most of the time was spent with the most coarse grit that came in the pack.
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