Linda Hilton
Reader, Writer, Merciless Reviewer and Incurable Romantic
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A really neat rocks follow-up, and we need a geology/paleontology group
A week or so ago I posted this
about some rocks in my collection that I had finally been able to identify.
This morning I had to change out the tumbler barrel that the other stones were in, and this time I remembered to bring the camera.
When I started this batch over a month ago, all I knew about them was that they were most likely from beaches in the Pacific Northwest, probably Oregon or Washington. When I zeroed in on the orbicular jasper last week, my suspicions of the PNW source were confirmed. Since then I've done some more research, while the stones tumbled through their next-to-last cycle.
Here they are in a small tray filled with water, photographed in the shade to avoid too much glare. Most are jaspers: opaque reds and yellows and browns with a few greens as well. The translucent agates are fewer, and I didn't get pics of the best of those. Patience is required! They'll be done next week and I'll get all kinds of pictures.
I took them out in the sun to get the brighter colors.
The stone that had me most intrigued was the orbicular jasper visible just below the yellow oval at the upper left-center. It did not disappoint!
Above, the stone is wet, and you can clearly see the individual jasper "orbs" in the matrix, as well as a hint of the sparkles, which I suspect are micro-crystals in the matrix. They showed up a little better when I dried the stone off.
As you can see, the stone is starting to show a polish, but wait until you see it next week!
There were at least five orbicular jasper pieces in this batch, along with another bright red jasper that may or may not qualify.
There might be some distinct spherules in there, but I was in too much of a hurry to get them back in the tumbler on the polish cycle and didn't want to take the time to look closely!
This one, however, shows the orbs really well.
I found another blog about PNW rock collecting that had some great photos. It seems to have ended in 2014, though, and that was kind of a shame.
http://topolith.blogspot.com/2012/
There are some very nice bits of petrified wood in the collection I bought that bear a strong resemblance to the pics in that blog, so I'm beginning to narrow down the possibilities. I'll never be absolutely certain, of course, but it's better to have some idea than none at all!
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