Mila Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 This and similar rocks are sold as a fulgurite. Do you believe it is a fulgurite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_day Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 Looks more like mineral encrusted twigs to me, but I’m no fulgurite expert so don’t take my word for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 I'm no expert either. You stated "this and other similar rocks were being sold as fulgurite". I would be a little suspicious if they were all coming from the same dealer or source. Do you have any idea where these were found? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mila Posted May 28, 2021 Author Share Posted May 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Morlock said: I'm no expert either. You stated "this and other similar rocks were being sold as fulgurite". I would be a little suspicious if they were all coming from the same dealer or source. Do you have any idea where these were found? He says (and, yes, they all come from the same seller) they were found in California. I told him I was not sure these were fulgurites. He said they were apprised by a geologist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 Isn’t fulgurite just a fancy name for any twig looking mineral formation. If fulgurites really have that broad of a definition and can be made of any mineral, I don’t see why it would not be. It looks like mineral encrusted twig to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 1 hour ago, chrisski said: Isn’t fulgurite just a fancy name for any twig looking mineral formation. If fulgurites really have that broad of a definition and can be made of any mineral, I don’t see why it would not be. It looks like mineral encrusted twig to me. They are formed when lightning bolts strike the Earth fusing the sand or earth together to form a fulgurite. No doubt they are much more common than we realize but hard to find unless you're look in the sand dunes. The blowing sand will expose them and all you have to do is dig them out. I don't know if the pictures of the fulgurites that Mila posted are real or not but I'm very suspicious since they come from the same seller. Secondly...they simply don't look like any fulgurites that I've seen before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, Morlock said: They are formed when lightning bolts strike the Earth I guess they are much rarer than I thought. I thought lightning was one of many ways. My Google research let me down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 50 minutes ago, chrisski said: I guess they are much rarer than I thought. I thought lightning was one of many ways. My Google research let me down. I actually think they are more common considering lightning strikes the earth 8 million times a day or about 3 billion times a year. Even if just a small percentage of those strikes formed fulgurites, that's still thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands formed each year. The problem is trying to locate them. As I posted before, sand dunes would be the most likely place to find them for obvious reasons. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted May 29, 2021 Share Posted May 29, 2021 10 hours ago, Morlock said: I actually think they are more common considering lightning strikes the earth 8 million times a day or about 3 billion times a year. Even if just a small percentage of those strikes formed fulgurites, that's still thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands formed each year. The problem is trying to locate them. As I posted before, sand dunes would be the most likely place to find them for obvious reasons. Wet sand. Beaches are IMHO where most fulgerite forms. And it weather's away fast on the beach. A sharp eye might catch a little fragment and locate a tube being eroded. But they wouldn't last long and would be super difficult to excavate from wet sand I bet. The monsoons in the desert might provide some potential. Lots of wet sand. But most of the surface of a sandy desert is gravel on the high spots. I have often looked for sand on a lightning prone ridge and haven't found it. It seems as rare as fulgerite in my neck of the woods Hunting lightning strikes in the sand would be a lot like hunting meteorites. Maybe tougher. A lot of the same obstacles exist. I always thought you could culture them easier than you could find them. The peak I mentioned in the previous post is capped by a huge vertical boulder. There is a mark running down the side obviously from many lightning strikes. You could pack a bucket of sand up there and set it under the boulder. Run a copper wire up the boulder and attatch it with cut nails. Ground it in the bucket. You got yourself a fulgerite trap. Put a bucket and a wire near the top of all the peaks in the area. You got yourself a fulgerite farm. I bet I could pack a sack of sand to the top of every peak in the Dona Anas and farm a fulgerite before I can find another meteorite. I might just shift my focus to farming fulgerites. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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