#rock collecting

[reddpenn]

I'm back from the rock show! Here are the Cool Rocks I got!

Let's start with the fossils this time.

This year I finally tracked down a Tully Monster, which is my state fossil! He's not a complete fossil, but you can see his eyestalk and the bottom of his proboscis very clearly.

A big chunk of dinosaur bone from Utah! Dino bone is easy to ID due to its distinct pattern, where agate and jasper have filled in the porous structure of the bone.

This is a coprolite, a piece of fossilized dinosaur poop! This one is from Madagascar.

This one is a stromatolite, a rock formation created by a colony of bacteria! Stromatolites are some of the oldest fossils on Earth. In fact, the microbes that make them were likely the very first lifeforms on the planet. And they're still around today, mostly unchanged from their ancient ancestors, and still making rock formations! This little stromatolite came from Madagascar.

A giant chunk of Turritella agate, which I won at the silent auction! Turritella agate is made of a bunch of fossilized snail shells all packed together and filled in with agate. (Despite the name, they're not actually Turritella snails, but rather Elimia tenera.) When cut and polished, it reveals beautiful organic patterns. This stuff comes from Wyoming.

That's all the fossils I brought home! Now on to the minerals!

I was very responsible and didn't come home with a million agates this year, but I couldn't resist this gorgeous rain flower agate! Hailing from Nanijing, China, these agates are naturally polished by the Yangtze River and have a unique, frosted finish.

Another cabochon for my cab collection! This is afghanite, a blue mineral that isn't related to the sodalite family, but likes to grow alongside it.

It fluoresces!

Vesuvianite, a mineral that gets its name because it was first discovered on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius! The dark crystals growing on its surface are garnets. This piece is showing off a great example of vesuvianite's crystal habit and terminations.

A huge zircon crystal! Zircon is the oldest mineral on planet Earth. There's a deposit in Australia which has been radiometric dated to be about 4.4 billion years old! Not this guy, though. This one is from Pakistan.

It fluoresces!

An AMAZING specimen of anatase! It's extremely rare for anatase crystals to grow this large. In fact, the only other anatase crystals I've seen in person had to be viewed under a microscope!

Here's the most expensive piece I came home with - a South African diamond! Can you believe I didn't have a diamond in my collection yet? That problem has been remedied.

It fluoresces!

And finally, my friends and I broke open a few geodes at the geode-cracking booth. I picked out some Trancas geodes from Mexico.

This locale produces weird, wavy, wormy crystals! These formations occur when quartz (in the form of chalcedony or hyalite) grows atop hair-thin, curly crystals of anhydrite.

They fluoresce!

And that was my haul from the rock show!

[todayontumblr]

Tuesday, May 30.

This is your sign to learn more about 🪨 cool rocks 🪨. Become a certified rockhound now.

I have something so important to tell you: Last week my sister and I smashed a bunch of rocks in half. It released something primal within us, and I am compelled to preach the one universal truth I now know; The key to life is to recognize you’re a certified Rockhound. A Granite Groupie. A real Basalt Head. 

Some rocks are almost made for throwing. A life like yours demands more exploring. Go on, my little #rockhound. Find a rock to smash open. The best part about your new hobby? In the absolute worst-case scenario, the rock is simply filled with more rock. What a beautiful thing.

[kingstarkingslay]

Remus has an inexplicable collection of rocks—oddly shaped ones, smooth ones, and some that are almost glowing. He’s been collecting them since childhood, but no one knows why. They just seem to soothe him when he's anxious. Sirius discovers his collection during a late-night conversation and, in his usual dramatic fashion, decides to start his own “rock collection” as a way to bond with Remus. He picks up rocks from all over the place and even “gifts” Remus the ugliest ones in his pockets, making them laugh together.

[penguinonfire]

Sliced ammonites in resin.

Ammonites are an extinct marine invertebrate that lived in the Paleozoic and #Mesozoic Eras, about 408 to 65 million years ago. ammonites were cephalopods, a group of predators that also includes, octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, and nautiluses.

[somnambulant-seraphim]

Cool rock time! :D These are from a parking lot on the way to the public library :3 It was also nice and rainy, so it was easy to see the patterns and colours better.

The wispy, veiny-looking one is my favourite, because it has a mark that looks like a little heart on it <3

[marlovestrees]

Silly Tears of the Kingdom video where a speed runner got a comment about “You finished the game too fast, now what are you going to do? Collect rocks?”

Speed runner said, sure, let’s collect all the types of rocks in the game. A spreadsheet makes an appearance.

[lexydakitten]

actually you know what? i love everyone and i love the world i am gonna share this one right now rather than later when it isn't 1 am. i acquired some bismuth while i was off and it's absolutely gorgeous, when i saw it being sold i squealed the name multiple times processing what a legendary find this was and then geeked over it w the person at the counter. i know most instances of it like this are manmade but i honestly couldn't care less it's soooo oueueuueuee,,, coolest thing i have now i think !!!! and also just it being a really cool metal in general

[ur-local-neighborhood-scene-kid]

Ok tumblr, I need help identifying these rock/minerals.

I got these from the “world’s greatest rock tumbler refill pack” from national geographic, if that helps. The ID guide from the pack is sparse and vague so it wasn’t much help.

I used google image search to id these as best I could. Thanks in advance to anyone who helps!

[alexparozi]

more rocks from the beach! like... a lot... of them

[fadbucker]

rock collecting by basalt cliff (old quarry) in nj, featuring rock with pond in it, two-striped grasshopper, old keys, bladder campion, pretty seeps, old shovel, shushrooms, cool crystals in rocks, cool rocks left by others, old cars.

[occultbooks]

friend searching; here r some things I like

movies (comedy, horror, and sci-fi specifically)

house md

animal crossing

the monkey island franchise

rock collecting/geology

primates (namely gorillas)

musical theater

filmmaking (I'm going into my film major next month)

homestar runner

smiling friends

smosh

music gets its own category

they might be giants

system of a down

fall out boy

jonathan coulton

weird al

ben folds/ben folds five

barenaked ladies

paul simon/simon & garfunkel

the aquabats!

bob dylan

CAKE

and lots more.

meow sorry for annoying post I just like meeting friends

[reddpenn]

Now that I'm back from the gem and mineral show, here are all the Cool Rocks I came home with!

A cute little coral fossil! He looks like a cauliflower.

A Keokuk geode! These geode beds aren't far from where I live, and it's always fun to have local specimens.

Phosphosiderite! This purple stone comes from Chile. It's so soft that it has to be stabilized with resin before it's cut. This one is a cross section of a botryoidial formation!

Speaking of botryoidial, this Hematite! Botryoidial means it has a bubbly shape kind of like a bunch of grapes. The faces of the bubbles on this pieces are super shiny and metallic.

Dendritic chalcedony, from Turkey! It's a white chalcedony full of dendrites - branching formations of manganese that look kind of like trees!

A cabochon for my cab collection! This one is made from a material sometimes called "ajooba jasper." The pattern is actually a cross section of a bunch of colorfully jasperized bivalve fossils!

Speaking of jasper, this one is Blue Mountain jasper, from Oregon! The circles in this stone are what’s known as an “egg pattern,” and jaspers which have them (Blue Mountain, Imperial jasper, and a few others) are collectively known as “fine jaspers,” the most valuable jaspers in the world.

Hyalite opal! This stuff forms water-clear spheres that look like jelly.

It fluoresces bright green under UV light!

Now to show off this year's haul of awesome agates!

Dryhead agate, from the Bighorn Mountains in Montana! This agate is named after the many bison skulls found in the area. A weird shaped guy with awesome red and orange bands.

Bou Lili agate, from Morocco! I like the name of this one. Soft banding and very subtle, muted colors. I've heard that this locale can produce peachy colors too.

Bear Canyon agate, from the Pryor Mountains in Montana! Agates from this locale have very stark black and white banding.

Red Fox agate, from Argentina! Sometimes this material is also called "crater agate" because the area it comes from is near the crater of an ancient volcano.

A Blue Sky thunderegg, from New Mexico! Thundereggs from this locale often have this two pointed, saucer-like shape.

It fluoresces really brightly!

Dulcote agate, from England! The bands of this agate are full of calcite, which gives them a strange, distinct texture.

Malawi agate, from Malawi! See all the cracks in it? Almost all Malawi agates have them. Frequent earthquakes due to the East African Rift cause these agates to crack and fracture.

Paint Rock agate, from Paint Rock Valley in Alabama! This agate is very rarely banded, and usually just contains swirls of red and yellow color.

A big, unpolished slab of Montana agate! This agate is known for its clear banding and black lines and spots, which are caused by manganese dendrites.

It's best viewed with some light behind it!

A smaller piece with really amazing dendrites!

Here it is backlit!

Fighting Blood agate, from Hebei Provence in China! This locale is known for its super saturated reds and yellows. This piece has purple amethyst crystals growing inside! They didn't photograph well; they are much more purple in person.

A really weird Fighting Blood agate! This one lacks the bright colors typical of this locale, but makes up for it with that super cool spiderweb pattern!

And finally, as is tradition, I came home with some Ethiopian opals! Here are the five I got this year.

And that's everything I got at the show!

[khafra3khofomankawra3]

I have this one memory from elementary school. It was like the first day of summer vacation and everyone else was still asleep, so I did exactly what I had to do and secretly discarded of all the pebbles I'd collected throughout the school year that we're originally hidden in the tiny side pocket of my schoolbag as if I was disposing of serious crime evidence.

I don't even know why I was so scared of anyone finding out I had pebbles in my school bag????

[radwolf76]

The local annual Gem & Mineral Show was this weekend.

I am so weak.

[penguinonfire]

Amethyst 🔮

This crystal cluster is a type of quartz called amythest.

This lovely crystal cluster is a type of quartz called, amethyst.