I'm a beginner at rock and mineral collecting. What are these?

[kensclark14 0]

Some of these I bought and some I found. What are they? I'm getting an ID book today but I don't want to wait.

I had to attach them. And I think two of them are emerald. They are all "as big" or "almost as big" as a quarter.

[Bedrock Bob 4,220]

Quartz

Agate (a jaspery agate)

Granite (one rich in mica on the right)

Chryscolla (or one of the many copper/silica combinations)

And a pale green silaceous rock. I am going to call it Chuckarite, Stufferite, Puterite, or Stickerite.

Minerals are classified by hardness, color, luster, feel, fracture, and chemical makeup. There are minerals and rocks. Some of your specimens are minerals (the quartz) and some are rocks composed of several minerals (the granite). The last specimen could be several minerals but is definitely high in silica, like the quartz and the agate. Silaceous minerals are tricky to classify sometimes without feeling, breaking, and subjecting to analysis.

Get yourself an "Audubon Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals" and you will learn how to accurately classify rocks and minerals.

Hope that helps!

[filldtank 0]

Quartz

Agate (a jaspery agate)

Granite (one rich in mica on the right)

Chryscolla (or one of the many copper/silica combinations)

And a pale green silaceous rock. I am going to call it Chuckarite, Stufferite, Puterite, or Stickerite.

Minerals are classified by hardness, color, luster, feel, fracture, and chemical makeup. There are minerals and rocks. Some of your specimens are minerals (the quartz) and some are rocks composed of several minerals (the granite). The last specimen could be several minerals but is definitely high in silica, like the quartz and the agate. Silaceous minerals are tricky to classify sometimes without feeling, breaking, and subjecting to analysis.

Get yourself an "Audubon Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals" and you will learn how to accurately classify rocks and minerals.

Hope that helps!

Hey Bedrock Bob

Read your post and your helping the newbie to wear off(audubon feild guide to rocks and minerals)Goldfinger had posted links to a few mineral charts that helped also,thanks to you guys we can work smarter not harder.Regards Phil

[kensclark14 0]

I just got the book! Thanks!

[Bedrock Bob 4,220]

Fellows,

When you open that book you will find lots of photos of beautiful mineral specimens. Most of the specimens you find in the field wont look like that. When you pick up a girlie magazine you notice right away that the specimens dont look quite like the ones you have back at the casa? It is the same deal.

Now, my suggestion is to concentrate on the words in the front of the book. Dont compare mineral photos before you examine your specimen based on the method in the book. You must check out the physical caracteristics of the specimen to make an accurate ID and that means a lot more than just looks, color, shape, and things that you can see in a photo. Go to Home Depot and pick up a piece of tile to use as a streak plate and get a cheap 10X and 30X magnifyer and learn how to use it. Work on being able to identify quartz in (almost) all specimens you see. Then work on recognizing other minerals. With 20 or 30 hours of "self education" you will be amazed at how many minerals you can identify and how little you have learned!

If you are really into it, and most people are, take a geology class at the local college. The subject is so HUGE that there is no way for anyone to grasp it unless they have some type of organized instruction. But if you really want to understand what is going on with our earth and the things we see out there it really pays to get some professional tutelige.

I hope you have fun with this. It is really fascinating and if you dig into the subject just a little it becomes a passion.

Bobby

[Haderly 99]

Bob is probably correct but it is awful hard to tell from the pictures. These are also possibilities since you said you bought some of them.

Rhodochrosite?

Jasper

Granite

?

Malachite

?

[kensclark14 0]

Bob is probably correct but it is awful hard to tell from the pictures. These are also possibilities since you said you bought some of them.

Rhodochrosite?

Jasper

Granite

?

Malachite

?

I don't know. But I bought the book and i'm reading it.