Green Rock - Please help identify. Thanks!

[Thosguys26]

I found this on a hike in far West Colorado around 8,000 ft elevation. I've hiked these mountains for years and never found a rock like this.

Just wondering if anyone might know what it is.

It's slightly bigger then a baseball and really heavy.

Should I posish it?

Thank you!!

[4meter]

A piece of Quartz.

Edited September 12, 2019 by 4meter

[Morlock]

I agree it's quartz but there's a slim chance it could be a variety known as aventurine. I wouldn't go through too much trouble polishing it unless you already know someone who has the equipment.

[chrisski]

Just out of curiosity, in the area this came from are the rocks rounded like the one you have or more jagged?  Also, I wonder if the glaciers reached your area.  The rocks where I live in the desert tend not to be rounded, and are sharp, jagged, and cracked.  That's because they tend to break off bigger pieces of rock in the sun / freezing cycle, fall to the ground, and never get the rolling action from the glaciers and rivers that happened in a place like Massachusetts where I grew up where all the rocks were round because they were  put there after being rolled by the glaciers for thousands of years.

I just bring that up, because if it looks out of place, it may have been moved there from something like someone dropping their pet rock to an Indian trader hundreds of years ago losing it in that area.  I have found a couple of old seashells in my area that I first thought was fossilized, but perhaps they were actually dropped along the Indian trade routes.

I really don't understand why but quarts has the same chemical composition as some semi-precious gems like amethyst or agates, but the quarts is usually worthless since its one of the most common minerals on earth.

[Sonja]

1 hour ago, chrisski said:

Just out of curiosity, in the area this came from are the rocks rounded like the one you have or more jagged?  Also, I wonder if the glaciers reached your area.  The rocks where I live in the desert tend not to be rounded, and are sharp, jagged, and cracked.  That's because they tend to break off bigger pieces of rock in the sun / freezing cycle, fall to the ground, and never get the rolling action from the glaciers and rivers that happened in a place like Massachusetts where I grew up where all the rocks were round because they were  put there after being rolled by the glaciers for thousands of years.

I just bring that up, because if it looks out of place, it may have been moved there from something like someone dropping their pet rock to an Indian trader hundreds of years ago losing it in that area.  I have found a couple of old seashells in my area that I first thought was fossilized, but perhaps they were actually dropped along the Indian trade routes.

I really don't understand why but quarts has the same chemical composition as some semi-precious gems like amethyst or agates, but the quarts is usually worthless since its one of the most common minerals on earth.

I agree about quartz. I mean at the rate of human population expansion quartz could be a rare mineral in no time (geologically speaking)!!

[CodyJames]

That aint quartz. Id crack it in half personally

[Morlock]

2 hours ago, CodyJames said:

That aint quartz. Id crack it in half personally

What is it then?