My Archaeological Find: Calling all rock geeks!

Look's like a large chunk of rock salt to me. Has the city been spreading salt after an ice storm lately? Rock salt often has a bluish to brownish hue. Lick the rock, is is salty?

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NatureLover, you really know your stuff. I was married to a rockhound for 17 years and a little brushed off on me... but not enought to ID it. Would a hardness test be at all helpful in narrowing it down? I can't remember the hardness of opal or of obsidian... but if they are different wouldn't this be an indicator worth checking?

ETA: The mineral department of a good museum should be able to help you, Kristie. There is a really good one at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto that goes out of their way to help people with unusual "finds"... but hopefully there's something similar closer to where you live.

If it is obsidian, it wasn't there naturally. Obsidian is found in various places in Indiana but from elsewhere, mostly from what is now Yellowstone Park. All the pieces I've seen around here are black but it does also exist in that blue or green color.

http://web.mac.com/elleryfrahm/iWeb/...AF7E52528.html

Martin

If it is quartz it should scratch glass. I tried to give a link to the Three Rivers Gem and Mineral society in Fort Wayne Indiana but it wouldn't work. Maybe they are updating their website and you could try again later.

Good point, but rock salt won't have that clarity, and wouldn't last long underground anyway without dissolving over time. But that stone will still taste salty, all minerals that come out of the earth will have a salty taste. Don't recommend it though if you don't know what it is, because many crystalline stones contain arsenic or cyanide in them.

Here is a link to Mindat - the Mineral Database - this is the biggest world wide database online about minerals and you should be able to identify it through here. It's slow to come up because it's so big but worth waiting for: http://webmineral.com/

Be careful about trying to scratch glass with it. If it is opal then the opal will get scratched instead.

Man, leave it to Cabin Fever to try to kill someone... sheesh.

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naturelover,

In that top photo, it looks to me like there's some christiline structure...look about the upper right down to the lower left, in the middle. Just above that structure there appears to be part of another structure, leaning toward the left.

GoddessKristie, what part of the state are you in? Please tell me you're not in Brown County!

Mon

I gotta say this has been most entertaining. Oggie and Cabin Fever, you guys crack me up!

NatureLover, I so appreciate your input! From what you said I think Obsidian might be the winner. I washed it really well and it does have the pearly sheen you described, but only in spots and I can see some inside it as well. There are little air bubbles in it as well. Also I found lots of little chunks of what looked like black pumice as I continued digging. Could this be meteorite? Was there a secret volcano? lol

Our jewler is a gemologist, would he be able to identify it if it's obsidian?

FYI: I did not lick it.

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

I am not in Brown County, why do you ask?

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

Oooohhh - Treasure! Yes, a jeweller should be able to give you a better identification, or point you in the direction of local lapidary clubs. Somebody in a lapidary club can surely identify it for you.

I'd say that's volcanic obsidian then if it has what appears to be pumice on it. That pumice is granulated lava that has crumbled with time and compression. If it had been from a meteor strike the pumice would have been vulcanized to glassy substance as well.

If you wait now til spring you may find more specimens. They commonly get pushed up to the surface during spring more than any other time of year. It's not uncommon to find obsidian that has been very deep beneath the surface for thousands of years and gradually gets pushed up to the surface, so there may have been volcanic activity in your locality several hundreds of thousands of years ago.

A wonderful find for you.

The pumice was not on it, I found it in pieces around it, but not directly, probably a couple feet away and at a different depth.
If it's volcanic how on earth did it get here?


ETA: How would I find out the value of such a piece?

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

It's not uncommon to find obsidian that has been very deep beneath the surface for thousands of years and gradually gets pushed up to the surface, so there may have been volcanic activity in your locality several hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Somebody in a lapidary club would be able to give you an estimated value. A lapidarist would examine it under microscopes, fleuroscopes and spectroscopes to determine the quality of it, and to determine what kinds of impurities and inclusions are in it.

Please don't get your hopes up too much about it, okay. It may have too many impurities in it for it to qualify as precious gem material. On the other hand, the impurities are what give it it's unique colors and might possibly add to the value of the stone. You'll have a better idea of what you have on your hands once it's been examined by an expert mineralogist. In the meantime I'd suggest you keep your eyes open for other specimens on your land.
.

This is kind of exciting. I found a report entitled, Minerals of Indiana by the Indiana Geological Survey <--- "click" to download report

It lists several dozen minerals that are found in Indiana....including diamonds! Thought you might find it interesting.

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I'd like to just make one more comment here. Now this is the crystallogist in me speaking this time. My specialty in alternative health care is the use of stones and crystals, thought you might like to know what I use my blue obsidians for as healing agents.

It can be used by laying it on all parts of the body to get rid of inflammation, to heal abscesses, to relieve pain, to help the body assimilate nutrients, to help heal broken or fractured bones, to improve milk production in lactating animals or humans. From a spiritual standpoint it is used to open one's heart and mind and gain better understanding and communication with your God. It cools a 'hot' temper, soothes emotions, and is a powerful protector against negative energies or evil spirits, demons, etc.
.

Based on the minerals listed in the report that I linked above, the minerals that appear to me to be most likely are:

Apatite


Celestite


Diamond


Gypsum (Selenite)


Quartz

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Nope - not possible for it to be any of those because she found it loose in the ground. All of those minerals, barring the diamond and quartz, are way too soft to have survived loose in the ground without getting pulverized. Celestite and gypsum are so soft they can be scratched with a fingernail or crushed by squeezing them in your hand, and while apatite is harder it is still not found anywhere in that particular pale color of Kristie's stone. Also, apatite is prismatic and Kristie's stone is not prismatic judging by the 2 pictures, it is opalescent. And there is no quartz found anywhere that naturally shows that blue color without irradiation and heating or that displays milkiness or amber hues mixed in with the blue. Also, quartz is another prismatic stone.

Here is the link to the MOHS scale of hardness tables and explanations about testing for hardness of stones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_sc...neral_hardness

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Kristie,
Did you ever find out what it is?

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SWF 46

if you can find superman, hold int under his nose...if he keels over and whines then its kryptonite.

Hey.

Looks like some old coca-cola bottles fused together in a burn pit.

RF

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Try this site and click on industrial glass
http://www.earthmeasure.com/bipolar/BU.html