# Blue rock ?!?!



## lil digger (Sep 22, 2012)

I was walking along the canal today because it was very low and i found this rock. Its smooth and dark blue ? any ideas?


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## lil digger (Sep 22, 2012)

.


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 22, 2012)

Some blue minerals are rare and worth $ 
  yours looks cooler then that one []

 You doing any digging? We scored a few permissions today.

 http://geology.about.com/od/minerals/ig/silicates/minpicbenitoite.htm


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## epackage (Sep 22, 2012)

Looks like obsidian...


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## AntiqueMeds (Sep 22, 2012)

being in PA my first guess would be slag.


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## surfaceone (Sep 22, 2012)

Hey Aaron,

 Nice Blue Rock. Obsidian, it's not.

 "In North America, obsidian is found only in localized areas of the West, where the processes of plate tectonics have created geologic conditions favorable to volcanism and the formation of obsidian." From.

 Did'ya see This Guy's?


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## epackage (Sep 22, 2012)

> ORIGINAL:  surfaceone
> 
> Nice Blue Rock. Obsidian, it's not.
> 
> "In North America, obsidian is found only in localized areas of the West, where the processes of plate tectonics have created geologic conditions favorable to volcanism and the formation of obsidian." From.


 Don't be confused by the "facts" Aaron...[8|]

 Obsidian can be found in locations which have experienced rhyolitic eruptions. It can be found in Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Chile, Greece, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Scotland and the United States. Obsidian flows which may be hiked on are found within the calderas of Newberry Volcano and Medicine Lake Volcano in the Cascade Range of western North America, and at Inyo Craters east of the Sierra Nevada in California. Yellowstone National Park has a mountainside containing obsidian located between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Norris Geyser Basin, and deposits can be found in many other western U.S. states including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Obsidian can also be found in the eastern U.S. states of Virginia, as well as *Pennsylvania*


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## epackage (Sep 22, 2012)

That being said, I don't know what it is I just said it looks like obsidian, I'm sure Matt might be on the right trail with Slag...[]


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 22, 2012)

Obsidian?? thats absurdian ! [8D]

 You guys love the Google search wars. Now if all of that knowledge came right off the top of your noodle's that would be saying something! 
 Three cheers for GOOGLE SEARCH!   [:-]


 ITS A BLUE ROCK.


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## toddrandolph (Sep 22, 2012)

As a life long resident of the Ohio rust belt, it sure looks like slag to me...


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## surfaceone (Sep 22, 2012)

> Obsidian can also be found in the eastern U.S. states of Virginia, as well as *Pennsylvania*


 
 Hey Rick,

 Who'ya callin "absurdian"? I resemble that. [8D]

 Ok, it's googlewar.

 "I'm a geologist, but I don't knap and never looked specifically for knappable stone. But chert should be interbedded in various limestone formations, and rhyolite is present in the South Mountain area. There is no natural glass (obsidian) in PA." sez Adam Kelper.

 it is a *nice* blue rock. [8D]


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## botlguy (Sep 22, 2012)

It looks like GLASS to me but NOT obsidian which is typically black and mostly opaque. I've carted many pounds of it out of the desert of the Eastern Sierra mountains in central California. That said, I am by no means a geologist, just judging on what I have seen. I believe obsidian, referred to as "Volcanic Glass", occurs when moulten lava is cooled rapidly by water or massive amounts of snow which the Eastern Sierras is known for. Should be easy to check out at a local collage / university.


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## Brains (Sep 23, 2012)

looks a lot like slag from old iron furnaces that i find here in ohio eh?


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 23, 2012)

I'm not sure if slag has any or much iron left but does a compass needle flip out when it's near?


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 23, 2012)

*The News is Out on the  Blue rock !!!!*

The News is out!!!


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 23, 2012)

*RE: The News is Out on the  Blue rock !!!!*

[][][] You TOO much Rick!


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## botlguy (Sep 23, 2012)

*RE: The News is Out on the  Blue rock !!!!*

GOOD GRIEF ! !   How can this be?   You guys are amazing.  I have an I.Q. of 125 and I can't do what you guys do.  But then I can only make money.  [][][][]


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 23, 2012)

*RE: The News is Out on the  Blue rock !!!!*

*


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 23, 2012)

*RE: The News is Out on the  Blue rock !!!!*

Sunday 22 2045, would that be Jan or Oct?


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## Plumbata (Sep 23, 2012)

Slag glass. Kinda looks like a core left over from knapped tool manufacture, but it isn't.




> ORIGINAL:  RICKJJ59W
> Now if all of that knowledge came right off the top of your noodle's that would be saying something!


 
 Indeed. I used to kick azz in scholastic bowl and was known as a walking encyclopedia by my peers. It really butters your buns when lots of people tell you in a tone of excited awe that you're the most brilliant/interesting person they've ever met, and to have the top 1% academic aptitude ranking (99th percentile) without any studying or preparation whatsoever, every single damn year the tests were taken. It's all me, baby. I *am* the 1%, haha. [8D] But here, people got on my case for employing big words; assuming I was using a thesaurus to appear more intelligent, and any sharing of info "off the top of the noodle" is automatically assumed to be the gleanings from a quick intarweb search rather than from the memory of many hours of book reading and mindful life experience. 

 It used to bother me, but now I don't give a damn and really don't put much effort into my posts. A nail that sticks out just gets pounded down, so why bother? As long as I am aware of the caliber of my abilities it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Gots nothing I need to prove to y'all, not anymore anyway. Best to treat all of you like equals and operate in a noncompetitive, lighthearted, and harmonious manner. Makes life a lot more pleasant.


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## bobble (Sep 23, 2012)

There are post civil war furnaces near me where cannon ball were melted down.The material inside them turned to glass,and where some of these furnaces were torn down they became known as 'marble yards'.Sometimes you can find solid reds,blue,green,aqua or all sorts of mixtures in swirly patterns.People round here like to decorate their yards with it.I don't think that is what this is,it looks like it has some traces of limestone or quartz in it.


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## bobble (Sep 23, 2012)

This was sent to us by a good friend of my father in-law name of Tom Resitar,Salton Sea,Ca.We sent some shed antlers to him,they couldn't get any at the time.He works with local Native Americans.The blade is obsidian,and I suppose it's held on by deer tendon or 'senew'.


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## bobble (Sep 23, 2012)

Sorry,forgot to rotate and size the pic.


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## Plumbata (Sep 23, 2012)

Great knife Bobble! Tried cutting anything with it yet?

 Regarding the marble slag fields, if the chunks are a decent size and uniformly vitrified you could probably sell them to knappers as well as people with rock gardens or a specific interest in attractive slag. Check out ebay's completed listings for slag glass chunks/rocks and the prices some fetch are pretty wild. Good way to make some extra cash if the material is easily available.


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## msleonas (Sep 25, 2012)

Kind of looks like Azurite which has been found in Arizona and New Mexico.


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## splante (Sep 26, 2012)

Nothing to do with your rock but this one can only be found in a small area in Rhode Island

 This rare ore deposit is world renown and thought to be the largest and purest body of ore in New England. It is located on a 3.7 acre parcel in Cumberland, Rhode Island 02864 near the intersection of West Wrentham Road and Elder Ballou Meetinghouse Road It is about three miles east of Woonsocket, RI, four miles SW of the NE corner of RI and one mile from the Massachusetts state line. It is the world's only known site of Cumberlandite rocks. The area is known as "Iron Mine Hill.

 These extremely rare rocks were deemed sacred by the Nipmuck Indian Tribe. Cumberlandite was also used as early as 1703 for cannons, weapons and farm tools during the Revolutionary War when it was recognized as a possible ore of iron. It was mixed with hematite from the Hopkins Iron Mine in Cranston, Rhode Island and was forged by Philip Brown at Abbott's Run in Cumberland. Sometime later, John Brown of Providence, R.I., was contracted for iron used in cannons by the US Government. He used a mixture of Cumberlandite and Cranston ores and smeltered them in Easton Massachusetts.


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## msleonas (Sep 26, 2012)

Steve, I have a bunch of this! I collected it and I use it for a geology unit I teach in school.


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## nydigger (Sep 27, 2012)

My parents have some glass like this. It was created during the civil war. It was part of what was left from the cannon ball molds. When the molten iron was poured into the sand molds it was so hot that the sand instantly turned to glass, they chipped it off and had a nearly perfect cannon ball. They found it in the Clarksville, Tn area where they lived when my dad was stationed at Fort Campbell in the middle 70's. I may still have a couple pieces my self I will see if I can find it and post it


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