Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 Send TopicPrint
Normal Topic Rock, mineral or artifact? (Read 191 times)
wegrorocks
Junior Member
**
Offline


RockHoundLounger

Posts: 54
Joined: Aug 2nd, 2023
Gender: Male
Rock, mineral or artifact?
Aug 16th, 2023 at 7:24pm
Print Post  
I wasn't sure were to start this thread. I found these 2 pieces about a foot apart in the corner of food plot. I've found smooth pepples that look look like the same material but I'm not sure. White Quartz wont scratch it. It's too small to try to see sunlight through it and I dont have a very bright flashlight.
  

20230816_165851.jpg ( 2859 KB | 7 Downloads )
20230816_165851.jpg
20230816_170638.jpg ( 962 KB | 7 Downloads )
20230816_170638.jpg
20230816_170658.jpg ( 932 KB | 7 Downloads )
20230816_170658.jpg
20230816_172014.jpg ( 1999 KB | 7 Downloads )
20230816_172014.jpg
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4204
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #1 - Aug 16th, 2023 at 8:31pm
Print Post  
Rusty Iron Pyrite, Fools Gold without the Gold.
Used to be called "Limonite", which is what I still call it, but geologist are trying to do away with the name Limonite in favor of "Goethite", or some such thing. (They're always messing with things that are perfectly fine the way they are if you ask me.)
I have FOREVER heard old local tales about how the Indians used it as money, for trade. I even named one of my early hunting sites "The Bank" because there was so much of it in the dirt. But there is absolutely no record of it being used or sought after by the natives.
Not an artifact.
It shouldn't be magnetic but check it just to be sure. Grin
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
wegrorocks
Junior Member
**
Offline


RockHoundLounger

Posts: 54
Joined: Aug 2nd, 2023
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #2 - Aug 17th, 2023 at 7:35pm
Print Post  
Thank you very much JoeM. I have tried to search the net for an identification but if if I include the name of a rock or mineral in the search, I get pages of countertops.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4204
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #3 - Aug 17th, 2023 at 9:49pm
Print Post  
Google  "Limonite Cubes".

Some of it can be very pretty. I'll post some pictures of some if I can find it.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
daves64
Senior Member
****
Offline


Rockaholic

Posts: 456
Location: Ellensburg WA
Joined: Jun 27th, 2018
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #4 - Aug 17th, 2023 at 10:16pm
Print Post  
Searching for "Limonite after" (no "") will yield many results.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
wegrorocks
Junior Member
**
Offline


RockHoundLounger

Posts: 54
Joined: Aug 2nd, 2023
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #5 - Aug 18th, 2023 at 3:09pm
Print Post  
Thank you JoeM, daves64!!
I didnt get not one countertop site with either search term. I'm going to sift where I found these to see if there are more.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4204
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #6 - Aug 18th, 2023 at 9:27pm
Print Post  
Okay, your Limonite Cubes used to be shiny gold Iron Pyrite cubes/crystals.
The easiest way to think about it is they are weathering and turning to rust, but it's called Iron Oxides and Goethite.  So the Iron Oxides are replacing the Iron Pyrite. When one mineral replaces another mineral but still retains the shape of the former it is called a "Psuedomorph". Doesn't matter if the original is replaced by Iron Oxides, Silica/quartz, or Calcium, all psuedomorphs.
Here's a link to a Google page you can read more about it;

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=psuedoorph&bshm=dcte/1

Like I mentioned, you can find real nice specimens of the Limonite after Iron Pyrite crystals if you can dig them from where they were formed and they haven't had a chance to tumble around in the dirt for hundreds of years like the ones you are finding. Those are in typical plowed field surface find condition. I dug these from an undisturbed site in Stanley County, NC. The shape and sharp edges should look a little more like Iron Pyrite to you.

« Last Edit: Aug 19th, 2023 at 12:48pm by JoeM »  

DSCN7431.JPG ( 170 KB | 8 Downloads )
DSCN7431.JPG
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4204
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Rock, mineral or artifact?
Reply #7 - Aug 18th, 2023 at 9:34pm
Print Post  
And Iron Pyrite is not the only mineral that will morph into Limonite, or Iron Oxides. And when these cubes continue to break down and loose there shape and turn to dirt they leach thru the soil and stain the quartz you've been digging all those pretty reds, and yellows, etc. you've been seeing.
This isn't the greatest example, but real worn and weathered Iron Pyrite and Magnetite can look very similar in the field, but easily identified with a magnet.  Smiley


  

DSCN7435_001.JPG ( 195 KB | 9 Downloads )
DSCN7435_001.JPG
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send TopicPrint