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Let's Rock => Identifications of Materials => Topic started by: Cabbin Fever on February 27, 2019, 06:46:32 PM

Title: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: Cabbin Fever on February 27, 2019, 06:46:32 PM

My cousin found this stone on a beach on the western side of Aruba. I researched the type of rock formations on that island, and this, IMHO, is not a "native stone". It is quite dense, a solid presence in the palm. I touched it to my 80 grit wheel as a quasi test of hardness, it is very hard, barely scuffed it.
I was looking for something totally different and an image search grabbed my attention: it looks quite similar to photos I saw of Banded Iron Jasper - but from Wyoming?
One thought from a friend, perhaps it was ballast on a long ago ship at port in Aruba?
Any help appreciated. I will be back with a photo of a cab from it my cousin wants me to make for his wife, cutting the banding at a diagonal.

Title: Re: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: lithicbeads on February 27, 2019, 08:48:15 PM

Quartzite and you are probably dead on about ballast.

Title: Re: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: peruano on February 28, 2019, 04:17:29 AM

Quartzite was my thought. It will still probably cab to an adequate shine and pleasant color pattern. 

Title: Re: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: Cabbin Fever on February 28, 2019, 06:03:09 AM

Quartzite - like the countertops?
So, I googled quartzite and darned if I can find one image the least bit similar to this, even putting banded, striated, etc in the search. All examples of quartzite look, well granular and quartz-y. What I do come up with is this photo.  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Could y'all point me to something that is an example of quartzite that is like this? Not that I doubt. I am just confused.
Note: I am not able to get a streak off this stone at all. 

Title: Re: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: lithicbeads on February 28, 2019, 08:48:13 AM

That is typical quartzite , the images you find on the net are  atypical  because people are showing off.What rocks really look like is almost never depicted on the net.

Title: Re: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: Slabbercabber on March 01, 2019, 07:19:26 AM

It looks more like petrified wood to me.  Identical in fact to the Parker wood found in Colorado.

Title: Re: Odd Stone from an Odd Place
Post by: Dirtyoldrockhound on March 02, 2019, 06:19:51 PM

Hands down petrified wood 

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