Who doesn't love collecting in CO??? Options

[colo_heff]

I've walked a lot of miles and collected off and on in numerous places and honestly I've never
seen areas where the rocks are so diverse... here's a sample of what I collected within 1/3
miles, I'd be interested as to people's ideas of what's here (Name That Rock):

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[colo_heff]

Round 2:

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[NewRockHounder]

Those are sexy.

On a side note, I may have a serious problem.

[fenixsmom]

Uh oh, Colin is addicted to "rock". This is coming from a gold digger, so consider the source.

[MikeS]

Quartz (Clear, Smoky, Chalcedony, Agate, Jasper) Petrified wood, Epidote and Marble?

[colo_heff]

Hey Mike... excellent guesses... here's what I'm guessing...
Pic 1 & 2 - I'm leaning towards topaz, took a different pic below, looks like basal cleavage
Pic 3 - Epidote or Olivine... here's a better pic, pretty green, the pic in the middle is one I found
while walking through ToysRUs parking lot... I'm thinking epidote on that one...
Pic 4 to 7 - Variations of orthoclase (albite, sanidine, orthoclase w/feldspar)
Pic 8 - petrified wood (stone knife, paleo, possibly 8 - 10,000 BP)
Pic 9 - picture jasper, see the woman's head in the middle carrying a basket on her head?
Pic 10 - petrified wood bark
Pic 11 - Orthoclase twinning
Pic 12 - smokies ( the one on the right possible point, paleo)
Pic 13 - rhyolite (point, paleo)
Pic 14 - either the darkest rose quartz I've ever found or amethyst
Pic 15 - jasper, grooves from possible use as a shaft straightener
Pic 16 - chalcedony variations, the one on bottom possibly wood opal

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[colo_heff]

Edit... Pic 1 & 2.. now I'm thinking clear orthoclase?... makes more sense... less wowser than topaz though...

[MikeS]

If the last pic of the first group is a "worked" stone knife I would like to see a bigger pic if possible. I have a little experience flintknapping and have done some arrowhead hunting and may be able to give a second opinion on that. In the last pic it looks like the "wood opal" may have been a chip from an actual worked piece.

[colo_heff]

Hey Mike... I'd love to have you take a look at what I've found and see what you think.
Here's some more pics for a more complete overview of the area I found a number of artifacts
like that, possibly middle to early Archaic (3,000 to 8,000 yrs BP (aka Before Present))...
Looks to be a "pit house" in the side of the bank built with large rhyolitic flat rock... I've got
accomplished pieces and one's like the one we are talking about... crude, chipped on for a
bit before discarding...

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[MikeS]

A few of those pieces do look like they have been worked. I would love to see them sometime.

[colo_heff]

I went out for the last hurrah yesterday before the Artic blast barreling down and found some interesting and puzzling pieces...
Pic 1 - petrified bark (looks like a bird on a nest)
Pic 2 - rare urbanite obsidian
Pic 3 - iron concretion and even more rare - petrified cheese??
Pic 4 & 5 - Reverse crystal collection (same rock), I decided to be different
Pic 6 & 7 - Banded jasper/agate (same rock), just a guess
Pic 8 - question, can clear quartz have feldspar inclusions? The circles are hard to see...
Pic 9 - same crystal as above, cleavage planes are pretty clear...

Back to the petrified cheese, never seen anything like it, scratches glass, I'm going to cut it with the saw to see what's inside...

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[Caveman]

Love the urbanite obsidion!

[NewRockHounder]

Wow, cool stuff - love that 2nd pic - Nice finds!

....."petrified cheese" lol..

[MikeS]

Pic 8 - question, can clear quartz have feldspar inclusions?

I have several smokey quartz pieces with feldspar (Microcline) that formed together. I rarely see any feldspar crystals suspended inside a quartz crystal but they grow/form into each other very often.