Found this while gold paning/ Please help identify

[WesternMassGold]

Found this unusual rock about 6 inches deep in a gravel bank in Massachusetts. Its about 2 and 1/2 inches long 2 inches wide and 3/4 inches high and has blue , green red and orange crystals in it . Any idea what this could be? Thx.

 

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[Eu_citzen]

Take a picture of it dry, please.

 

[WesternMassGold]

Take a picture of it dry, please.

That is dry. The rock is black but the light reflects of it like the black part is crystaline too. I will try to take new pictures.

 

[motel6.5]

Foooooooooooools Gooooooooooooooooold

 

[WesternMassGold]

Ok took new pictures. the rock is dry and in natural sunlight and no it's not fools gold or pyrite. The light also reflects of the black parts and its sparkly too.

 

[Scooter268]

I'm by no means a geologist. I just like rocks but it looks like a fine grain conglomerate with quartz, garnet, olivine, and others.

Or

It also resembles a few rocks at the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas. -Not saying it is an actual match. (Volcanic in nature maybe)

 

[uglymailman]

There is a member here with a post that's something like "show me your rocks you want identified" or close to that. Do a search at top of page. Good luck.

 

[WesternMassGold]

The Mystery deepens. I just today had 4 Geology professors and their staff look at this thing and the result was baffeling:>> They have never seen anything like it and have no idea what it is. the only thing they agreed on was , that it is NOT a rock.
The told me to try a Gem/Rock show and hope for identification.But they all loved to look at it and said it was very cool.

 

[rrhobdy]

I'm not an expert, but your second set of photos (enlarged) look like a collection of garnets, olivine possibly peridot, and other unknown crystals, in a granular mass cemented by possibly silica or calcite solution. You need to try putting a drop of acid and see if it reacts by disolving or seperating the grains. Also, is it unusually heavy or light? If it is heavy, (dense) it could be mafic or ultra mafic origin, similiar to kimberlite. I have a sample of kimberlite from the Sloan Pipes of State Line district in Colorado, it is very dense and jam packed with garnets, almost like they were cemented together, there were so many of them, plus a few micro diamonds and green chrome diopside fragments. It had several patches of white chlorite?? that reacted to acid. Your sample doesnt indicate that... so I wont come out and say that is what it is. But you will need to test in more to find out what the binders is. Are there any other rocks similiar to it where you found this...you will need to get more samples. Also, when you were panning, were you getting a lot of garnets in you concentrates? There are known lamproite and possible kimberlite locations near to Mass. If you are panning downstream from these locations, you will find garnets. If you find peridot or chrome diopside also, then your location is very close to a possible lamproite or kimberlite source. Check out the information on the internet. On the other hand, if the heft of the stone seems to be on the light side, then you have a sedimentary rock. Think sandstone deposit with course crystal grains cemented either by pressure or liquid solution of silica or calcium. Either way, you will have to test it. Try taking it to a local university geology department and their students or professors may be interested in helping you.

 

[WesternMassGold]

Like i said i had 4 geology professors look at it since i work at Westfield State University. I do find a lot of very small red garnets where i found this but have not found a second sample like the 1 i've got . I will keep looking tho since its a good spot for gold paning. My sample is 2 and 1/2 inches long 1 and 1/2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick and weighs almost 3 ounces or 454 carat.

 

[BurntBear]

As others have pointed out, it appears to be a conglomerate of multiple minerals; but the specimen as a whole is quite interesting. Its shape is also peculiar; like a hamburger patty. Is it magnetic? -Luke

 

[WesternMassGold]

As others have pointed out, it appears to be a conglomerate of multiple minerals; but the specimen as a whole is quite interesting. Its shape is also peculiar; like a hamburger patty. Is it magnetic? -Luke

It's not magnetic.

 

[Antje]

We have that! It seems almost like asphalt but much finer. Not many of them, just have found them over the last 2 years. Being baffled by everything have tried to look them up- different answers but photos on the internet and in various books look different. SO interested in what the experts say- ours aren't as symmetrical.

 

[WesternMassGold]

We have that! It seems almost like asphalt but much finer. Not many of them, just have found them over the last 2 years. Being baffled by everything have tried to look them up- different answers but photos on the internet and in various books look different. SO interested in what the experts say- ours aren't as symmetrical.

Do you have any pictures u could post? I would be interested in seeing them. Somebody suggested black Malenite maybe.

 

[hvacker]

I've wondered why crushed glass isn't used along with asphalt to #1 get rid of a lot of glass and #2 maybe get longer were out of our roads. I'm not saying this is what you have, It just reminds me of what asphalt/glass might look like.

 

[WesternMassGold]

I've wondered why crushed glass isn't used along with asphalt to #1 get rid of a lot of glass and #2 maybe get longer were out of our roads. I'm not saying this is what you have, It just reminds me of what asphalt/glass might look like.

I compared it to Asphalt , not even close.

 

[BurntBear]

I would have someone examine this specimen in person. I'm curious as to what it is as well. I'm not sure where in Massachusetts you are, but here is a club that could probably help you. -Luke

Connecticut Valley Mineral Club

 

[WesternMassGold]

I would have someone examine this specimen in person. I'm curious as to what it is as well. I'm not sure where in Massachusetts you are, but here is a club that could probably help you. -Luke

Connecticut Valley Mineral Club

Thx for the info Bear, looks like i,m going to the show in august in West Springfield only 10 miles from here.

 

[Doubter in MD]

I've wondered why crushed glass isn't used along with asphalt to #1 get rid of a lot of glass and #2 maybe get longer were out of our roads. I'm not saying this is what you have, It just reminds me of what asphalt/glass might look like.

They make glassphalt, also spelled glasphalt, but a lot of factors come into play regarding its use. Here are some I found on the pothole info website.

"So why is glassphalt not used routinely in road building? There are several problems:

Variable rock economics. At the most, the glass content would comprise between 10 and 20 percent of the pavement. So standard asphalt-making equipment and procedures would always be used, but this would reduce the costs from aggregate (crushed rock) that makes up the bulk of asphalt. Aggregate pricing varies from location to location, a function of raw sourcing and the distance required for transport. So in some areas, glass provides a cost-effective dilution, but in other areas not.

Municipal variables (recycling and asphalt manufacture). According to the Glassphalt Paving Handbook (Asphalt Institute Manual Series No. 4, 1989, University of Missouri-Rolla), “The best possibility for sustained production of glassphalt is in communities with municipal asphalt plants, because the community can make a direct correlation between the extra costs incurred in glassphalt installation and the savings from diverted solid waste tip fees.” The handbook goes on to say this is not the case in most of the U.S.

Not a simple substitution. The Glassphalt Paving Handbook also makes a point of how you cannot simply feed broken or crushed glass into the aggregate. After collecting the glass (by whichever method the municipality uses), it needs to be processed to a specific size (aggregate), after which batch modifiers must be altered along with the asphalt manufacturing operation.

Limited applications. While the presence of glass in the pavement presents no danger to humans or damage to vehicle tires, the skid resistance of glassphalt pavement is slightly less than that of standard asphalt. This then limits its use to lower-speed roadways – and prevents it from being used to build 65 mph highways."


Also, I'm not suggesting the object in question is glasphalt. I was just responding to hvacker's query.

 

[DDancer]

My thought is that its probably whats left of a pocket of crystallization. Not really a conglomerate but a bunch of different species of crystal that formed in a vug that has since eroded out of the host rock. Several species seem to be present though the primary appears to be garnet.