What is this?

[silent hunter]

Do you have any idea what I am holding in my hand? I broke this piece from a three inch wide vein inside a mine shaft. The walls are decomposed granit so decomposed that it is almost white.

Best Wishes
Kurt Painter

[cubfan64]

Man, that really looks familiar to me Kurt! I bet someone knows the answer, and if not, send me just a little piece and I'll have someone at work tell me what it is.

[cubfan64]

It just popped into my head that it looks like a crystalline form of gypsum so I did a quick search and found this - I believe it's the same thing except that yours is whiter so has less contamination:

http://www.successglobalinc.com/wp-cont ... rtrose.jpg

[silent hunter]

I found a mountain made of this stuff. I wonder if it has any value in the modern world??

[silent hunter]

Also at the same spot there is this. It is flat pieces of clear white stuck togather with air pockets in between each flat piece. It would not photgraph well at all.

[silent hunter]

here is one of the transparent balls

[cubfan64]

Weird stuff - and don't just take my word for it being gypsum (desert rose variety) as it may very well be something else - it's just the thing that entered my mind when I saw it.

If that one stuff is gypsum, it's possible that the other pieces you have are the same general material but in a different purity/crystalline or hydrated structure - sort of like how turquoise, chrysacola and malachite are all related but with slightly different crystal structures. It could also be a result of crystallization at different temperatures.

Heck, if nothing else, take the samples to a rock and mineral shop or show and see what the experts can tell you .

Gypsum is basically just Calcium Sulfate - sort of like what you find it wallboard. I can't put my finger on it, but I thought someone had a gypsum mine in the Superstitions - check with Jim, he may remember who that was.

I bet you could make at least some spending money by getting nice specimens of the different varieties in different crystalline forms and selling them on Ebay to rock/mineral collectors. Probably won't get rich, but you could buy a few beers now and then

[roc2rol]

Nice find Kurt!
Fine looking specimin you ahve there
Those pieces can be kind of pricey in rock shops
Five bucks or more.

I’m real interested in the second piece.
Your description is intriguing.

Ah taking a picture of a rock. Difficult!
Use macro on the camera,
set the rock and camera on a table. Stability.
Sunlight is best-- but the lighting is always a bugaboo.

Thanks for finally taking a picture of a rock and posting
Now its Paul's turn!

Ed

[cubfan64]

Here's a few "rocks" and other things I've inherited, found or in a couple cases made

This first one is a copper containing rock about the size of a fist that was in our house in NH when we moved in - no clue where it came from, but it looks pretty cool.



This next is a smaller sample of azurite containing ore I found in a mine dump not far from the JF Ranch - there was lots of it there, but I didn't much time to really dig around. Found a couple mine shafts nearby where it was likely removed from.



Next is one of a bucketfull of Apache Tears that I collected near Superior at the perlite mines there - couldn't find any of the fist size ones, but lots of marble to golf ball size ones.



Next one is a sample of Chrysacolla taken out of the dacite mines W and a little N of the Don's camp.



These last two photographs are copper sulfate crystals and nickel sulfate crystals I made at one of my last jobs where we recovered metals from hazardous waste. Out of boredom while working 3rd shift now and then I would purify some of the solutions we had in the plant and try "seed" and slowly allow the crystals to form. The copper sulfate usually worked out really well although I was only able to make large single crystals now and then - all it takes is a tiny bit of contamination or movement to the solution while it's crystalizing to cause it to form lots of smaller crystals like the one you see (blue). We didn't have as much nickel solutions to play with, but I was able to make a few good size green chunks like the last photo.

Chemistry can be so much fun





There you go - hope you liked em

[Jim Hatt]

Neat photos Paul, nice collection!

Kurt,

If you are using your phone cam, hold the rocks further away when you photograph them (since most cell phone cams don't have a macro setting). Then you can crop away all the background you don't want in the photo. I'll bet Tom K. could identify all of those rocks.

Nice finds!!!

Best,

Jim