40+lb unknown mineral/crystal

Jlarkins18

Jr. Member
May 17, 2021
21
23
Orange County, California
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Found today with my son in a dry riverbed in Southern California. Light tan and pink opaque colors. Little swirls all over when dry. Any ideas? Looks like quartzite/chert/chalcedony.
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Looks like chert and maybe some flint. I live in Ohio its everywhere, too bad its not emeralds everywhere lol
So I chipped a piece off and it can't be chert as the shards are completely translucent and have crystaline grains where as chert/flint have cryptocrystaline grains that are not visible to the naked eye. See photos attached
 

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It is a big quartzite "pebble" loosed from some conglomerate.

Did you do a streak and hardness test?
 

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So I chipped a piece off and it can't be chert as the shards are completely translucent and have crystaline grains where as chert/flint have cryptocrystaline grains that are not visible to the naked eye. See photos attached
Thats reminds of jade with its interweaved crystals,
 

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It is a big quartzite "pebble" loosed from some conglomerate.

Did you do a streak and hardness test?
Yes, against glass it cuts. As for the streak test, it just seemed to cut the different pieces of unpolish porcelain I have around the house, so no color.
 

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Thats reminds of jade with its interweaved crystals,
You know, I found another mineral that I posted a few months back that had the same woven exterior, but much more colorful. I think the general consensus what chert but I know that can't be now. Take a look..
 

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You know, I found another mineral that I posted a few months back that had the same woven exterior, but much more colorful. I think the general consensus what chert but I know that can't be now. Take a look..
It looks like jade
 

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Y
So I chipped a piece off and it can't be chert as the shards are completely translucent and have crystaline grains where as chert/flint have cryptocrystaline grains that are not visible to the naked eye. See photos attached
Yellow/Honey Common Opal
 

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Yellow/Honey Common Opal
Opal has no crystal structure. It is an amorphous mineraloid.

These efforts to classify quartz rocks by name is futile. Here's an example of the different names for the same microcrystalline mineral Chalcedony:

Chalcedony.png

They are all the same mineral, Chalcedony, with different names based mostly on color and the culture you come from.
 

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Y

Yellow/Honey Common Opal
I was gonna say agate seeing the inside but yes all in the quartz family. I have rock with crystal attached i broke a chunk off of and im clueless too lol other than prob some type of quartz. It grows weird i think lol did you have a clue? Lol
 

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I was gonna say agate seeing the inside but yes all in the quartz family. I have rock with crystal attached i broke a chunk off of and im clueless too lol other than prob some type of quartz. It grows weird i think lol did you have a clue? Lol
This looks like calcite to me.
 

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I was gonna say agate seeing the inside but yes all in the quartz family. I have rock with crystal attached i broke a chunk off of and im clueless too lol other than prob some type of quartz. It grows weird i think lol did you have a clue? Lol
Looks like quartz to me, 99% sure but ya never know...
 

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