Dredged this up! Any Ideas

[jog]

Found this in my pan after dredging. I was in a creek in Northwest Oregon. Have looked in my Gem book but can't find anything like this.

 

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[Eu_citzen]

Would you mind taking pics from the side to?

And test the hardness.

 

[jog]

Thanks for looking!
Does this help?
Also can't check the hardness because I pulled a dumb a#% move and broke it ! I think it was already fractured.
I had it checked today and was told possibly an odd shaped Garnet. Guess I will have to go try find another.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Zircon? Maybe Vesuvianite?

A quick hardness test will settle that issue.
Zircon is about as hard as Quartz.
Vesuvianite is some-what softer then quartz.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Oh, and you can still test the hardness.
The crystal in general is still in tact isn't it??

I think you have a tetragonal crystal there, not a cubic like garnets.
But I am uncertain, some angles from the top might indicate another cystal form.. Or a crystal that hasn't grown as it should..

Vesuvianite:
http://www.trinityminerals.com/tucson2006/chv6.jpg

Zircon:
http://www.mindat.org/photo-1405.html

 

[jog]

Thanks for all the help and good info!

 

[strickman]

it's a garnet, i dredge them up all the time . some are irregular,but quite a few are perfectly [natural] faceted. there are several color varieties,some black like schorl tourmaline,some are red to a purplish hue. they can be quite small to very decent size. and usually hit quite a few when i am in good color.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Garnets usally form rhombic dodecahedrons. But come in a bunch of other forms, never seen nor heard about this one though!

This is probably a bipyramidal tetragonal crystal with cleavage that removed the tips.

And Garnets come in many colours, indeed. Grossular garnet, for example can also come in green to.
But please, show me a confirmed garnet with that crystal form!
(that is not a Pseudomorph)

 

[strickman]

in the gold section he posted this question.i answered garnet ,because i find them regularly where i dredge,this may not be a common form of garnet -but never the less -it is a garnet. he also said he took it to a jeweler.who said it was a garnet.

 

[Eu_citzen]

in the gold section he posted this question.i answered garnet ,because i find them regularly where i dredge,this may not be a common form of garnet -but never the less -it is a garnet. he also said he took it to a jeweler.who said it was a garnet.

Hmm.. Interesting. I think he said, I quote:

I had it checked today and was told possibly an odd shaped Garnet.

I am pretty certain this is no Garnet. Mindat, anyone?
More tests are required to be certain.

// Eu

PS. Check on Austrobouncers reply in the prospecting topic.

 

[jog]

Hey! Am I going to have to put you two in the corner for a time out. No! just kidding
Today I took the kids and walked up the little creek almost to the head. Found another but was not complete, but is more intact so I can try and get a hardness test on this one. Also have the pics from the first.
The jeweler that I went to believed it was a Garnet but wasn't positive, just wasn't sure about the shape. He did get a Little bit of light to show through and he said it was a very light red and brown color.
I will let you know what I find out on the hardness test.

 

[strickman]

the shape is odd for a garnet, i'll give you that .... but it's still a garnet....................i don't know why , but it does happen.

 

[strickman]

here's a few ,i just gave a bunch away. i'll have more when i go thru more cons. they a common where i go .might not be common everywhere .but plentiful where i go.

 

[jog]

Strickman..
Are those worth anything, and what do you do with them?

 

[Eu_citzen]

Stickman,
I am quite familiar with Garnets.
And I have seen and picked out even more from schist.

Both brown, red and other coloured Garnets.

The only possibility that I can see if it would be garnet would be a pseudomorph where it replaced a earlier mineral.


Oh and here is a lovely little Garnet twin.

 

[Tuberale]

I'd wager garnet.

Oregon has several varieties. Rarely in schist, which is fairly rare in Oregon. Pacific Northwest garnets form in many rocks including andesite from the Cascade Mountains volcanoes. Fairly common small garnets are found in the debris from Mt. St. Helens. Abundant fracture lines and fairly small size make our garnets mostly valuable as abrasives, as for sandpaper.

 

[strickman]

i'm no geologist ,don't claim to be .could be something else .maybe even tourmaline ,don't know. but i do know i have found some odd garnets ,as well as other oddities.and they are not always typical . maybe even the result of twinning. or cleaving. but they are cool. i need to separate some more ,i have pounds of them .

 

[strickman]

Strickman..
Are those worth anything, and what do you do with them? some are cut-able i guess, i was going to make a bracelet or necklace for my wife. i'm sure there would be a market for them as these can be very attractive for a raw stone.

 

[jog]

Strickman.. Have you tried to tumble any to see how they would Polish up?

 

[jog]

OK! I just tried scratching a piece of glass and it will do it with very little effort. Does that help?