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Unknown rock.

  • Thread starter Jayson16
  • Start date
I got this thing thing in the bahamas. It was at this little shack close to the beach that was also selling shells. Was hoping some of you rockhounds would be able to help.
100_1342.jpg
 
looks like a bit of quartz and mica, with a crust of basalt or something. But I'm definitely not good at IDing rocks.
 
I agree about the quartz & mica - it looks like some kind of granitic rock, with a bit of what it intruded into. But that makes no sense if it originated in the Bahamas, which is a carbonate platform. Can you show us some other angles, maybe with better light?
 
That's hard to tell. Looks like quartz. I can't tell if its mica or just camera reflection off the rock. However mica is pretty easy to ID in person. And its a common associate with quartz. Is the color accurate? It looks very pink.

Lick it. :-D Maybe its salt.
 
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Sorry bout the one pic, ill try to get a couple more today. It looks like most of it is some kind of brownish quartz, the top is like a pinkish/skin colored that isnt quarts and the bottom looks like it milted to form like a dark root beer solid color.
 
Did you lick it? I was serious. :)
 
That's a great suggestion PAK. A salty evaporite is much more plausible than an igneous rock out there. Even though it doesn't look like that to me.
 
Well its not salty. Here are some more pics hopefully will help you guys.
100_1382.jpg

100_1380.jpg

100_1379.jpg

100_1378.jpg
 
pure quartz, smoky quartz. The top looks like some kind of volcanic rock that went matamorphic.
 
  • #10
It doesn't look at all like quartz in that last photo.

Can you scratch the "white" part with a knife? If so, can you scratch it with a penny? If you can scratch it with a knife, scrape a little bit off and put some white vinegar on it. Does it fizz? Try the same with the "red" part.
 
  • #11
Sorry for responding so late. I doesnt scratch with a penny but it does with a knife. Nothing fizzes either.
 
  • #12
I keep my mineralogy book at work, but I'll try to remember to bring it home this week.
 
  • #13
They have a salt industry in the Bahamas.

It looks more like a "soft" rock to me. You don't normally see quartz with that type of crystal pattern and cleavage. It looks like compressed columnar crystals.

Its not quartz if a knife scratches it. Is is soft enough to be scraped into a powder? Got a black light around?

If I can download your pics, I'll try to send it to one our expert rock guys.
 
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