Weird kind of Obsidian and what is this mushroom looking rock called..?

[curious kat]

.....found this piece of weathered obsidian that has these "tiny" orbs of obsidian inside of it. I've added another picture of it with the regular sized ones for size comparison, it's on the far right....anyone ever heard of this kind? And found this other rock with what looks like "rock mushrooms" on it...anyone know what it's called & how it was made? thanks

 

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[StoneWhisper]

All minerals at one point in their life cycle start out in a liquid form as this image will show:
I'm not verifying that your stone is lava based.. I was just pointing out the bubbles and could be a form of Thunder egg.. Agate/Chalcedony etc
In our case, driving the south western PA we stopped as a lake and walked the shore line.. finding several white quartz that looked like it had been run through a play dough press.. simply squeezed out from between the hardened rocks and left to dry afterward.

 

[loco oro]

your mushrooms are a conglomerate rock,cemented ancient alluvial gravels.

 

[curious kat]

Thank you guys for the info.! It is Very volcanic here SW. And I'll look that up Loco oro....

 

[Eu_citzen]

Loco nailed that one. The one with the glassy orbs might be of a volcanic origin, tuffite?

 

[curious kat]

Yes Eu it is volcanic...most everything here is! lol It's called the "Mogollon-Datil Volcanic field".

 

[Eu_citzen]

Perlite can weather to look similar, where some glassy "orbs" seem to resist a bit longer. That's also a possibility I just read about yesterday.

 

[curious kat]

...thanks for that Eu, that seems to be what it is!

 

[Tigger]

You are exactly right. The little 'orbs' are obsidian, and are called "Apache Tears". (google it for the "story"). My husband's family is from AZ and they have found lots of them over the years. Matrix there (and probably yours too) is perlite. A friend of ours found one once the size of a large hen's egg. They are usually penny size or smaller though. They can be tumbled to be used in jewelry, but need to be done carefully because they are basically glass. I think having a few in the matrix makes a good display specimen.

Tigger

 

[Bejay]

You are exactly right. The little 'orbs' are obsidian, and are called "Apache Tears". (google it for the "story"). My husband's family is from AZ and they have found lots of them over the years. Matrix there (and probably yours too) is perlite. A friend of ours found one once the size of a large hen's egg. They are usually penny size or smaller though. They can be tumbled to be used in jewelry, but need to be done carefully because they are basically glass. I think having a few in the matrix makes a good display specimen.

Tigger

On the west side of Topaz Mtn in Utah is an outcropping of the Apache Tears in matrix. The whole side of a cliff is that pumice like black/grey matrix with Apache tears in it. The surrounding area below the cliff is covered with black obsidian Apache tears.

The rock with round nodules on it appears to be "geode like" nodules.....they can be solid or hollow. If you could cut into one you would likely find it filed with an agate like material. I have seen many such occurrences in volcanic Rhyolite deposits....which have a creamish color and weathers to a chaulkish texture with the geodes in it. The geode nodules forming in the gas bubble cavities of a highly gaseous rhyolite volcanic expulsion.

Bejay