Help needed to identify these rocks.

[Nailemandjam]

I found this in Baja, CA near the middle of the peninsula.



I've been rock hunting since I was very young. This particular rock looked different than any other rocks in the area.

I really appreciate any help with this.

 

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[vpnavy]

..: Moved from EVERYTHING ELSE over to ROCKS/GEMS for more exposure :..​

 

[IAMZIM]

That's a weird rock, wish I could help lol!

 

[Nailemandjam]

OK, here's another rock that I haven't identified...
It was found in Lake Marina, east county San Diego. Your help is greatly appreciated.
It is wedge shaped with the backside being flat and the front being small and round:

Below is the inside (cut open)

Side view:

Flat back view:

The front nose:

I haven't done the specific gravity yet -- which I will do today and post the results. The rock is very dense. I determined the red coloring is rust (the powder sticks to a magnet), The rock is highly metallic (attracted to a magnet). With a lupe you can see tiny metallic specks.

 

[bologna321]

Top one rhyolite with an obsidian crust

Bottom one hematite

My two guesses

 

[Nailemandjam]

Thank you for your input but the streak taken from the inside was grayish white not red as with hematite.

 

[A2coins]

those are really cool

 

[A2coins]

Welcome from MI Tommy

 

[Eu_citzen]

First one could also be a poorly melted slag. Not familar with the area, so just sayin'.
Second one you need to take a hammer to and chip a piece. A sawed surface doesn't aid in ID. Use protective gear.

 

[Nailemandjam]

Well the problem is that the first rock is not at all attracted by a neodynium. It's my understanding that slag contains some iron and steel and is run off waste of smelting ferrious metals in the steel industry.

 

[Nailemandjam]

I'm sorry but I don't believe polverizing the stone with a hammer will reveal any more then then the cut I've already made. I will do spacific gravity and post the results. I thank you for your input.

 

[Nailemandjam]

The second rock I found about half way up a mountain and not on a trail.

 

[fuss]

The first one looks like maybe tar covering conglomerate, but just a guess based on the photo below. Have you done streak and hardness tests on the first rock?
scroll down to around pic #15 in the article in the link below.


Wandering Environmentalist: Tar "Pits"

 

[Nailemandjam]

Hi fuss, that is a strange place to camp. How did u deal with the smell of tar?. Thank you for asking if it is tar because tjats exactly what I thought it was when I saw it. Now I have to tell the story of that first rock. When I was 10 in 1981, my folks and I were driving to a beach in baja calif. Called loreto. Anyways we had been driving for about 5 hrs from the n

 

[Nailemandjam]

Sorry I'm using my phone got cut off. So after driving 5 hrs I really had to urinate badly so I kept hassling my father to let me pee but he didn't want to stop the car in case it wouldn't start back up. You see there's nothing but rattlesnakes and if u breakdown you may not see another car for hours to get help. The temp outside was unbearable but he finally stopped and kept the truck running as he followed to keep me from the snakes which all you could hear was rattlers. Well it so happened that I urinated on top of it. It washed the sand exposing the rock. It looked strange and I grabbed it before my dad noticed. When we arrived I washed the rock and I thought it was a rock that was covered with road tar. When we got back home I put the rock in a box and forgot about it. It was about 15 years ago that the rock was found by my mom when she was cleaning the attic. I can tell you that Its glassy and not tar.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I'm sorry but I don't believe polverizing the stone with a hammer will reveal any more then then the cut I've already made. I will do spacific gravity and post the results. I thank you for your input.

Then stop believing and trust the pros. I'm not even talking about pulverizing the stone, but chipping it and showing the fresh surface.
Specific gravity is not applicable on rocks, which are made of more then one mineral.

Well the problem is that the first rock is not at all attracted by a neodynium. It's my understanding that slag contains some iron and steel and is run off waste of smelting ferrious metals in the steel industry.

Well, if the slag is from the steel industry, sure....
A lot of other ores have been smelted historically.