Crunchy Quartz/Cause of Discoloration?

[NuggetN8]

Today I was out sluicing and found a very strange looking piece of quartz. (I think its quartz) Never found anything like it before. Also finding a lot of rocks that have discoloration to them. They have red/orange/black staining on them. Anyone know what causes that? I know there's manganese in the creek. I thought it could be iron but this place has very little black sand that's magnetic. Here's some pics of the crunchy quartz and a rounded piece of quartz with the staining on it.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

The black is often manganese according to what I've been told...at least here in the CO mineral belt. Could also be lots of other different metallic oxides which get dissolved in the water and then redeposit on the rocks as the water flows thru the soil or creek.

Caution, such coatings can disguise gold so if black stuff is as heavy as gold you should always keep it. Try soaking such stuff in vinegar or brick cleaner (muratic acid) to clean such coatings off. Put your bucket outside while the vinegar or acid do the work as some of the fumes that can be generated are stinky or even dangerous.

 

[NuggetN8]

The black is often manganese according to what I've been told...at least here in the CO mineral belt. Could also be lots of other different metallic oxides which get dissolved in the water and then redeposit on the rocks as the water flows thru the soil or creek. Caution, such coatings can disguise gold so if black stuff is as heavy as gold you should always keep it. Try soaking such stuff in vinegar or brick cleaner (muratic acid) to clean such coatings off. Put your bucket outside while the vinegar or acid do the work as some of the fumes that can be generated are stinky or even dangerous.

Ok thanks for the good info!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Always brother, always.