My First Geode...is it Natural?

[romeo-1]

I know very little about geology and the only geodes I've ever seen were sold in gift shops. This was found in a river in Nova Scotia, Canada. Is it natural or something someone lost? Thanks for looking.

 

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[Kray Gelder]

All natural, IMO. Cool find!

 

[romeo-1]

All natural, IMO. Cool find!

Cool...its quite stained from the river so will be worth it to clean. Into the vinegar it goes!

 

[Doubter in MD]

Did you cut it in half? Or did you find it like that?

 

[romeo-1]

Did you cut it in half? Or did you find it like that?

Found it like that.

 

[Doubter in MD]

I don't know much about this stuff either but I think it may have been lost by someone prior to you finding it. I believeeodes are typically hollow spheroids and you have to break them or cut them open to expose the inside. Yours looks cut because the flat side is very flat, but I'd be glad to have someone smarter than me tell me I'm wrong.

 

[romeo-1]

I don't know much about this stuff either but I think it may have been lost by someone prior to you finding it. I believeeodes are typically hollow spheroids and you have to break them or cut them open to expose the inside. Yours looks cut because the flat side is very flat, but I'd be glad to have someone smarter than me tell me I'm wrong.

Thanks for the feedback. It's actually not flat at all. It looks like it may have been broken a long time ago and then the rough edges smoothed by the river.

 

[romeo-1]

Cross section...definitely not cut with a saw but I suppose it could have been broken by human hands...

 

[Doubter in MD]

No. I think Kray Gelder may have gotten it right. It may have been smoothed out by Mother Nature.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Big rocks become small rocks in rivers, getting bashed and smashed during floods. Even smaller fragments of geodes are common finds in streams. My limited experience comes from the mountain streams of Washington, Idaho and Montana, where I always had my eyes peeled for agates, pieces of quartz and geodes.

In the steep small creeks of the west, if I could find where bedrock formed a natural shelf across the creek and small waterfalls, it's like a natural sluice, and by screening the gravels just below, heavier minerals can be found, such as garnets, beryl, corundum. FWIW.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Vinegar might clean it up but I always used Oxalic acid on my geodes. It is sold under the name "wood bleach" at the hardware store. It's powder you mix with water. Nice geode! Gary

 

[blauer]

Vinegar might clean it up but I always used Oxalic acid on my geodes. It is sold under the name "wood bleach" at the hardware store. It's powder you mix with water. Nice geode! Gary

It is also in 'deck cleaner'....which is what I use.

 

[smokeythecat]

Be careful with what you use on it. Nova Scotia has a lot of minerals called "zeolites". In their crystalline structure they contain a good bit of water, so can be ruined easily. If its a quartz mineral, it should be no problem.