Torie Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Found these around Saline River in Kansas. Black with striations and crystals. Found in or near limestone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torie Posted March 26, 2019 Author Share Posted March 26, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torie Posted March 26, 2019 Author Share Posted March 26, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 @ynot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Probably an amphibole mineral. Would need some tests to have an idea which mineral it may be. Hardness, streak and specific gravity would help. Edit... Speaking of the darker mineral. The light colored mineral(s) could be quartz and or feldspar. 2 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kato Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 10 hours ago, Torie said: Found these around Saline River in Kansas. Black with striations and crystals. Found in or near limestone. Hi, are you finding it directly in the limestone as you stated? Also, would you be more specific as to a general area on the Saline River? Perhaps a county, a nearby city or a feature such as Wilson Lake? Any chance of getting a photo slightly more in focus and in natural light? Top and bottom of your first specimen? I think I am seeing calcite crystals on your dark specimens but am not sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kato Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 9 hours ago, ynot said: Probably an amphibole mineral. Would need some tests to have an idea which mineral it may be. Hardness, streak and specific gravity would help. Edit... Seaking of the darker mineral. The light colored mineral(s) could be quartz and or feldspar. It's interesting seeing that 'spray' structure on the specimen. In theory, there is no igneous or metamorphic rock along the Saline River. Definitely a scratch test is needed. The closest igneous that I am aware of is in Riley County and it is a Kimberlite pipe. The other is igneous/metamorphic and closer to being in southeast KS in Woodson County. Perhaps it is some kind of evaporite? Anyhydrite, halite, gypsum or some combo with mineralization to cause color? If those are calcite crystals on the dark specimens it could also explain a lot. Various accounts of river being named after briny water or a salt works in Saline, KS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torie Posted March 26, 2019 Author Share Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) Hey guys! I will get more/better pictures for you guys! I have this one I completely forgot about. This is a rock with lines or streaks of the smaller specimens. I can still get better pictures. Edit: Sorry. We were in Rook County by the Saline River. Horse thief road (or something like that) I can perform the tests soon, when I get home from work. Thank yiu all for the help!! Edited March 26, 2019 by Torie Adding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torie Posted March 26, 2019 Author Share Posted March 26, 2019 Here is another of the mineral in a different matrix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kato Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 2 hours ago, Torie said: Hey guys! I will get more/better pictures for you guys! I have this one I completely forgot about. This is a rock with lines or streaks of the smaller specimens. I can still get better pictures. Edit: Sorry. We were in Rook County by the Saline River. Horse thief road (or something like that) I can perform the tests soon, when I get home from work. Thank yiu all for the help!! Thanks! I've outlined possibly some calcite and selenite crystals. The upper right looks very much like selenite/gypsum in the form of desert rose. The other two rectangles are possibly calcite crystals but with the clarity and lack of zoom it is hard to say for sure. I think for your specimens at home besides the hardness test maybe a little vinegar to test for chemical reaction. If you can scratch your specimens with your fingernail they may be some form of selenite. A link to hardness tests http://www.rocksandminerals.com/hardness/mohs.htm Rook County is very interesting due to Pleistocene Loess last thought to come from alpine glacial events. I worked in the oil fields near there and spent some time in the area. One thing I don't quite remember is seeing the Saline River in Rooks County. I thought it was in the more northern part of Ellis County??? That would be just south of Rook County. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 What you have are septarian concretions, and pieces of them. 3 For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 I agree with septarian, which means the mineral is most likely calcite. 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torie Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 16 minutes ago, Ramo said: What you have are septarian concretions, and pieces of them. Oh! Yes! Oh that’s so cool! Thank you so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torie Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 12 hours ago, Kato said: Thanks! I've outlined possibly some calcite and selenite crystals. The upper right looks very much like selenite/gypsum in the form of desert rose. The other two rectangles are possibly calcite crystals but with the clarity and lack of zoom it is hard to say for sure. I think for your specimens at home besides the hardness test maybe a little vinegar to test for chemical reaction. If you can scratch your specimens with your fingernail they may be some form of selenite. A link to hardness tests http://www.rocksandminerals.com/hardness/mohs.htm Rook County is very interesting due to Pleistocene Loess last thought to come from alpine glacial events. I worked in the oil fields near there and spent some time in the area. One thing I don't quite remember is seeing the Saline River in Rooks County. I thought it was in the more northern part of Ellis County??? That would be just south of Rook County. Thank you so much for all of the information here! Is there more articles I can read about this area? We were every close to Ellis county too, so most likely closer than Rook. Also, very cool that you used to work in the oil fields around here. Small world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 Back in the 1980s I found very similar huge septerian concretions in the Russell Kansas area. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kato Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 8 hours ago, Torie said: Thank you so much for all of the information here! Is there more articles I can read about this area? We were every close to Ellis county too, so most likely closer than Rook. Also, very cool that you used to work in the oil fields around here. Small world. Okay, maybe you were in one of the tributaries that feed the river. Was it actually running with water? I am onboard with there being calcite and selenite (desert rose) in the one specimen photo. If you are interested in historical information this is an old survey of western KS replete with photos and mentions of fossils. Page 62-64 will be of interest to you as that is the likely formation your septaria are from though there does not seem to be mention of it...note there should be lots of fossils to be found and other strange rock forms such as cone-in-cone that I remember seeing but did not collect. http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/Bulletins/11/Bull11.pdf This link is information for Ellis County but DOES mention a formation Septaria are in http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/Bulletins/11/02_ellis.html and then this very old bit of info about NW Kansas; numerous fossils and bones https://books.google.com/books?id=cndRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA593&lpg=PA593&dq=septarian+concretions,+rooks+county+ks&source=bl&ots=bDDW35xzr-&sig=ACfU3U26jC3PgK-1hLKnVIbf-ZnZNVRK4Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihrdHNpKLhAhVCIDQIHcyWCEU4ChDoATAAegQIBRAB#v=onepage&q=septarian concretions%2C rooks county ks&f=false I remember finding huge Inoceramus fossils in northern Ellis and Russell County. You have plenty of places to go searching and lots of things to be found. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 21 hours ago, Ramo said: What you have are septarian concretions, and pieces of them. I totally agree! " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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