Rockhounding and Mineral Collecting

Garnet.

Hawaii does not have a state mineral, but it's state gem is black coral.

you find it almost everywhere in the world
quarts is located on the earths surface

i lived in Portsmouth (southern) Ohio and there were geodes everywhere. . .we found them in creek beds and hillside cuts. . .they aren't the really flashy colorful type, but there are a lot of them

1...........Limestone

2............Sandstone

3............Ash flows, or plume of ash rain.

4...........Mud slides

5...........Sea floor beds.

6...........algae in lake beds.

7........... Third rock from sun.

Benitoite.

Rocks have many uses economically, such in building and road and wall construction. Rocks are used to make breakwaters, thus improving harbours and beaches. Rocks are used to control erosion and deterioration of slopes and hillsides. Many old buildings in Aberdeen, Scotland are actually roofed with slabs of granite. The poor roofers don't get much work from these buildings since they last centuries.

The value of a crystal depends upon many things. For example; what mineral it is, size, clarity, quality, whether it's attached to matrix, or associated with other crystals, locality, rarity, etc. So to determine value, you must first determine exactly what you have.

Texas does not have a State Mineral, but the State Rock is petrified palm wood, and the State Gemstone is blue topaz.

Some rocks can be shattered.

Short answer is that it's probably safe to say that nobody knows for sure.

Long answer is that jewelry, made of bone, shell, and teeth, was worn as long as 25,000 years BC.

Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan for the last 5,000 years.

Jade, amber, turquoise, and emerald have similarly very long histories.

Jade can be tough to identify; there are lots of things that look exactly like it. Strong suspicion is often warranted. Firstly, did you find the rock in a known jade-producing area? That's a good sign. Second and thirdly, jade is hard, and very tough, a hammer is going to bounce right off it. Lastly, the best way to positively identify jade or any other gem is by consulting an expert. Find a local gem and mineral club, or a museum, or a university earth science department. Or, as a last resort, if you have none of the above, try to find a competent gemologist.

Colors are not a reliable method for identifying a mineral because different minerals can have the same color. Take Calcite, Halite and Gypsum for example. At first glance, all three of them appear to be the same mineral. All three of them even have the same streak and luster. However, they all have a different hardness. Calcite has a hardness of three, Halite has 2.5 and Gypsum has 2.

Halite is made out of Sodium Chloride, but I wouldn't recommend tasting your mineral samples.

It depends on what you are detecting!!! As the frequency goes up so does the ability to detect gold. As the frequency goes down you are better equipped to find coins and other metal. The type of coil also makes a difference. Look to well known brands that have been around for a while. Also look at used machines on sites like eBay

Yes of course it is they are sold at glenwood springs and other places in the mountain and eBay and craigslist

Red corundum is called ruby.

That means that the silver that it is made of is 92.5% pure; the highest level of purity in jewelry. Silver with higher levels of purity are too soft and are easily scratched and bent to be useful.

River-worn lumps of gold are typically called nuggets. They can take a variety of shapes, from very flat to nearly spherical, and can be almost purely gold or contain pieces of the host rock, which is usually white quartz. Nuggets are generally worth more than spot price, but they're not as highly valued as crystalline gold or gold wire.

The first ruby was found on June 30th, 1919.

The pricing is highly variable, according to size, color, luster, locality, lack of damage, etc. A flawless transparent Swiss smoky quartz crystal as long as your arm will fetch thousands, whereas the standard Arkansas colorless point of finger size may go for ten bucks.

You could start a fire with quartz, flint, or shert rocks if you are lost in the wilderness and you have a steel pocket knife to strike them with to form sparks. You could buy a quartz countertop for your kitchen.

The field test for diamond is 'extreme hardness'.

If you believe that you've found a diamond stone, you can take it to a jeweler, who will apply a probe and verify your find as a diamond stone, or not.

* Gold or silver in necklaces