A Very Nifty Rock for You to Test Your Mad Identification Skillz On

So there I was, enjoying the sunshine and a very lazy day with the kitties (yes, both – I made Misha be sociable), and then I check my email, and there is a message from friends from out of state. Their grandmother had a rock collection. They have it now. Would I like to see?

Um. YES!!

And so they brought me rocks (and burgers – yum!). Many, many rocks. Alas, most of the rocks did not have labels – Grandmother had known what they all are and didn’t feel the need to mark them. I was able to identify some: there were a few fine specimens of granite, a delicious chert (seriously – it looked like caramel), some mica samples to absolutely die for, lots of agate, petrified wood, a maclargehuge cluster of gypsum roses that looked like they’d had hematite slathered all over them later, and something I’m reasonably sure is kyanite. But there was also plenty I couldn’t ID. I’m not yet at the point where I can look at a rock taken out of its context and know what it is at a glance. And I wasn’t going to go scratching around on this very old collection, testing hardness and the like. So the huge green chunk of stuff that weighed a ton? No idea. I think there was some malachite in there, but again, dunno. And then there was this:

Image shows a brown stone that looks like a jumbled clump of chocolate shavings. It's comprised of many reddish-brown blades piled together. It's covered in little bumps as if it's sand, but it's definitely not sand.
A fabulous example of… something?

(Yes, those are Boo’s feet in the upper right. She was being ever so helpful.)

This is a delicate rock that isn’t very heavy. It is covered in little bumps as if someone sprinkled sand all over it, and then glazed it.

Image is a close-up of the main rock and of a blade that's fallen off. The loose blade has caught the light and shows it has a shiny surface under the sandy coating. The blade attached to the main rock in the foreground has lengthwise striations, and the edge is so thin it's transparent.
Two different views of its properties in one!

As you can see, bits were transparent, and bits were shiny, and there were all sorts of textures to it.

Image shows a close up of the transparent edge.
Transparent edge.

I have my suspicions about this one. I think I know what it is. But I’ve never seen it in this form before, or so big – I didn’t measure, but the blades were at least four inches long, and the thing as a whole filled my hands. Fantastic! I’d love to have a positive ID. I know that photos are hard to identify a rock from, and these aren’t the greatest as I was using my tablet to shoot them, but hopefully it’s distinct enough that one of you will be like, “Geez, Dana, I can’t believe you didn’t recognize that!” And if you say it’s a certain evaporite, I’ll be like, “But I totally guessed!”

Image shows the rock in the foreground, with Boo sitting behind.
Boo with our mystery rock. It totally looks like chocolate, doesn’t it?

Isn’t that lovely! And the kitty’s nice, too.

Right. So it’s over to you, my darlings, and I am off to Mount St. Helens with Suzanne for a day of exploring the south side. I’ll have pictures! And we’ll get to the depressing stuff of substance later in the week. But for now, let’s have a bit of fun.

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A Very Nifty Rock for You to Test Your Mad Identification Skillz On
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14 thoughts on “A Very Nifty Rock for You to Test Your Mad Identification Skillz On

  1. 3

    Hard to say from just a general description, but could the heavy green one be andeite? Google really hates that name, by the way – keeps trying to make it andesite. Wikipedia apparently has never heard of it – makes it Annette. Go figure.

  2. 13

    A personal question. You mention Misha & I assume it is one of your kittens because you were making him be social. My wife & I brought home 2 kittens about 8 weeks ago and named them Phoebe and Misha. I only know of one general/popular source for the name Misha -he’s an angel of sorts. What was the source of the name Misha for you?
    Thank you

  3. 14

    Misha is a she, 21.5 years old, and never was an angel! It’s a common Russian name, but my ex and his family picked it out, so I’m not sure where they came up with it. I hope your bebbes socialize better than mine!

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