Natual Glass found in texas sand quarry

[zoienluv]

Make a long story short My son works at a sand quarry they produce frac sand used for natural gas wells... Anywho he found quite a big sheet of natural glass in their pit here is a few pieces of it .

 

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[DanKnug]

Zoie, the information Plumbata has provided is correct. I would venture that Plumbata is either a Geologist or someone with a strong interest in mineralogy.

Your area is a prime hunting ground for ammonites. Have you found any of those around? My father found one a few years ago that he said was 3-feet in diameter in Whitney. Unfortunately, he just left it and did not bother to bring it back.

 

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[geologyjohn]

Gypsum/calcite. Geologyjohn.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I have an area I get gypsum from and it looks the same.Very cool to see what the Earth will cough up isn't it.

 

[zoienluv]

Zoie, the information Plumbata has provided is correct. I would venture that Plumbata is either a Geologist or someone with a strong interest in mineralogy.

Your area is a prime hunting ground for ammonites. Have you found any of those around? My father found one a few years ago that he said was 3-feet in diameter in Whitney. Unfortunately, he just left it and did not bother to bring it back.

No I haven't an I agree with the gypsum I went an found sum more things about it an it explains a lot better thanks for helpin me I'm new at the huntin thing but love to learn about all the cool things I've found I have sum more things I will post to get sum help on I appreciate the help

 

[zoienluv]

I have an area I get gypsum from and it looks the same.Very cool to see what the Earth will cough up isn't it.

It is I have never heard of a lot of the minerals an types of rocks until bein here an it's been very helpful

 

[zoienluv]

The pieces are most likely Gypsum, or possibly Calcite, as DanKnug suggested. Considering how you can scratch it with your fingernail, it is almost certainly Gypsum. It occurs in several forms with different names, but the clear/translucent masses like the ones your son discovered, or clear slender needle-like crystals of hydrated calcium sulfate (Gypsum), are often referred to as "Selenite". If you scrape an example and collect a bit of powder to mix with vinegar, not much should happen if it is Gypsum, though if it is Calcite it will react and visibly bubble.

Crystalline gypsum can form in many sedimentary environments in a "geologically" short period of time. I've collected rosettes in Miocene deposits of compressed sand and clay, with fossilized shark teeth coming from the same area. Since the material you have came from a sand mine (sedimentary deposit) it is highly unlikely that it is quartz or another silicate mineral, as it would be very unlikely that a layer of quartz/glass/fused silica could form between undisturbed layers of "loose" sand, as far as I understand. If one is not too familiar with minerals though, it would certainly make sense that a similar-looking rock is made of the same stuff as the sand above and below.

The core fact here is that a fingernail can scratch the mineral, implying that it has a Moh's hardness of less than 3/10. The hardness of a fingernail is around 2.5-3/10, Gypsum is 2/10, Calcite is 3/10, Iron is around 5/10 I think, and Quartz/SiO2 has a Moh's hardness of 7/10, which clearly rules it out.

Anyway, those are nice specimens, it is great that your son thought they were interesting and saved them!

Plumbata
I have a question the one thing I seen people sayin is selenite what is that I can't find anything on that word where would I find more info . If u can help me or direct me in that direction it would awsume. An thanks for helpin me out

 

[CRUSADER]

It would make some pretty good jewelry:
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[riverdiver]

Awesome recovery, to the person who talked about lightning created glass, those formations I believe are called Fulgramites and they form as tubes, alot like lava tubes. Anyway, great find, not high jacking the thread, just adding info.