Great collection! I call the first one, "Sunrise." It is probably my favorite here. Love the white rectangles on #7. The inside of #3 was very unique and beautiful! Beautiful rocks!
The strong yellows and orange (?) in such a thick stripe or vein surprised me! They almost look brecciated. Possible fossil remains? 3:36 How do you differentiate quartz from chalcedony? I struggle with that. Is there a difference other than crystal size and translucency?
I have wondered if much more of what i’m finding contains fossil remains than i originally considered. it’s something i’d like to learn more about! the yellow and orange are always fun to find. On Chalcedony vs Quartz, yes, i look at crystal size first, so in this case, there’s some spots where the vein has small pockets and there are some small terminated crystals, and there is a little bit of druzy left on the exterior in small crevices. I use a jeweler’s loupe or zoom on my camera. I may be confidently incorrect, but my understanding is that chalcedony doesn’t do that. so if i can find evidence of that, that’s my first check. i also use a flashlight and laser pointer to text the translucency (although i’ve heard chalcedony can be pretty transparent also!)
@GreatBasinProspecting Thanks GBP. That's what I've read as well. I guess I was wondering can you have both in the same specimen? Is it a matter of how slowly the silica cools or if there's enough of a void for larger crystals to form? Or both? Or vice versa? 🙃🤪😄😂
Great collection! I call the first one, "Sunrise." It is probably my favorite here. Love the white rectangles on #7. The inside of #3 was very unique and beautiful! Beautiful rocks!
thank you! yes, sunrise is a great descriptor, i think of the color palate as sunrise also :)
The strong yellows and orange (?) in such a thick stripe or vein surprised me! They almost look brecciated. Possible fossil remains?
3:36 How do you differentiate quartz from chalcedony? I struggle with that. Is there a difference other than crystal size and translucency?
I have wondered if much more of what i’m finding contains fossil remains than i originally considered. it’s something i’d like to learn more about! the yellow and orange are always fun to find.
On Chalcedony vs Quartz, yes, i look at crystal size first, so in this case, there’s some spots where the vein has small pockets and there are some small terminated crystals, and there is a little bit of druzy left on the exterior in small crevices. I use a jeweler’s loupe or zoom on my camera. I may be confidently incorrect, but my understanding is that chalcedony doesn’t do that. so if i can find evidence of that, that’s my first check. i also use a flashlight and laser pointer to text the translucency (although i’ve heard chalcedony can be pretty transparent also!)
@GreatBasinProspecting
Thanks GBP. That's what I've read as well. I guess I was wondering can you have both in the same specimen? Is it a matter of how slowly the silica cools or if there's enough of a void for larger crystals to form? Or both? Or vice versa? 🙃🤪😄😂
you and me both! i’m not sure if they can co-occur like that, but i’m also not sure they can’t!
#5 could stand a few more slices I would be interested in seeing what else is in there.
not a bad idea!