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colorfull round shape

I've looked at a lot of sediment now and I just found this. It is a perfect sphere and semi-clear. Hard but perfectly round. Don't think it's a microfossil, but anyone have a guess as to what it is? It was inside a 3 x 6" piece of the formation. Image about 4-500X. Object cannot be seen with naked eye.

Hey! Sooooo I’m usually really good with identification of most minerals but this one to me is just weird. I’m thinking it’s a type of mica, maybe even schist but it seems to have little circular petal like formation. Maybe it’s an atypical formation or presentation? Either way it’s pretty neat piece

Hello there! I recently found these rocks. And I am super curious as to what rocks they are. I would really appreciate the help in identifying them. The first two are different rocks but I'm betting they are the same type of rock. Thank you.

Even though I fancy myself as a self-collector of fossils, I have always been interested and attended shows as they are excellent learning/networking venues. For the past few years, I have been attending the Quartzsite shows. The first times I attended, I was pretty lost since they are actually a series of shows, some overlapping, some not, at different venues. Very confusing. That's part of the charm though since there is much to like about these shows: they occur at a time of the year (winter) when nothing else is happening in much of the country, you can find excellent bargains, they are pretty relaxed due to the extended schedule of shows and they are mostly outdoors which has turned out to be a huge bonus in the age of COVID. My experience is that there are 3 shows for fossil enthusiasts worth mentioning: 1. Desert Gardens This is an RV Park turned into a rock, gem and mineral show typically from January 1 to February 28. Vendors occupy RV parking sized spots, which are larger than your typical venue's vending areas. The show hours are typical business hours seven days a week for 2 months. It is all outdoors and due to its long schedule, can be visited in addition to the other shows. The parking and atmosphere of this show tends to be a bit more relaxed than the others as well. The feel is more wholesale type business, but every vendor I've encountered will also gladly do business with the general public. The common refrain is, "I'll sell the whole table or individual specimens, just tell me what you're interested in and we'll make a deal." I estimate the number of vendors around 50-100. The reason for the wide number is that thanks to the long hours and period, some vendors may not be there or open when you come. Some may not even be fully set up if you go early in the year. 2. Tyson Wells Another RV Park just east of Desert Gardens on Kuehn Street. This is a 10 day show during the first couple of weeks of January, this year from January 7-16. The format of Tyson Wells is the first show is for Gems and Minerals. After that show is a "Sell-a-rama" flea market type show, followed by an Arts and Crafts show. What I saw was quite a few vendors setting up shop for all 3 shows, selling a variety of goods not related to rocks/gems/minerals/fossils. I attended the Gem and Mineral show in 2022, and rock/gem/mineral/fossil dealers were actually a minority, scattered here and there but mostly concentrated towards the eastern end of the show (the northwest corner of Kuehn and Central). If parking and traffic is a concern, you can try going early or late to beat the crowds. In talking to some vendors, it seems that many rock/gem/mineral/fossil vendors will set up show here, then decamp for Tucson afterwards. I estimated the number of dealers in the low double digits, but still worth checking out since you can have first look at their selection before Tucson. 3. Quartzsite Improvement Association (QIA) Pow Wow This is typically a weekend show, extending from Wednesday to Sunday during one of the last weeks of January, in 2022 from January 19-23. Vendors typically occupy no more than a handful of tables, with some inside the building but most outdoors. The vendors are what you would typically expect at your local rock/gem/mineral/fossil show, just much bigger and more than you find in your normal local gem/mineral club shows (~100 vendors). While you're in Arizona, the FLAGG show (one of the first weekends in January) is the biggest show in the Phoenix area. Again, a weekend show, the format is a tailgate show, vendors occupy parking spaces outdoors with typically a handful of tables, although some vendors (i.e. the FLAGG Foundation) occupy dozens of tables. The size of the show is comparable to the QIA show, but there is a far larger contingent of local gem/mineral/fossil clubs at FLAGG than QIA due to their focus on education and outreach. By the way, if you have children, this is a good show to attend as many exhibitors/vendors have gifts or activities for children. Following the January shows, you would then move onto the Tucson shows in February. In conclusion, if you had 2 months to spare and the means, you can attend a world-class show every day for 2 months in Arizona(!!). For the rest of us, that kind of lifestyle will always be the dream while we save our pennies.

Another piece without location,what could it be?Perhaps a location?Thanks

Perhaps an ID?what could it be?Thanks !

Hey all and a merry Christmas! I spent Christmas day at the beach with family and my partner found something on the beach which we would like to know more about. Can anyone ID this? There are a couple of broken bits allowing a cross section view. It almost looks like a mineral deposit...? Can anyone provide some input? Thanks in advance

Ammolite from Canada or Labradorite from Madagascar? THE BLUE POLISHED STONE COULD IT BE Sodalite? And the last calcite with quartz?

This one has been sitting in my "interesting but I have no clue" pile for a while. When I found it, I was splitting limestone laying in the stream. I've found that when you split limestone, immediately after splitting you'll get a couple moments of a sharp looking specimen before things start to oxidize. The limestone is a very dark gray, or almost black color. You either see black limestone or white calcite pieces while splitting. I split this particular piece open and right in the middle was a 3-4 cm long, 8 mm wide gold looking rectangle in the middle of the flat broken limestone. I thought I wouldn't get to recover it, but one hammer hit later it popped out and I was able to save it. I do find that plants in the limestone seem to get the gold or pyrite type preservation. I've found one small straight shelled cephalopod preserved like this. But overall, it's very rare here. I have maybe 3 or 4 larger pieces of what I'd called pyrite type material I've recovered. Below are some stacked microscope photos of it. The scale in the first photo is 1 mm for each mark. You can see the grain that runs left to right. This looks like wood to me, but I haven't had that confirmed before. The next two photos are a view looking from the bottom to the top of the first photo. What has me most curious are the perpendicular grain marks that are found in this area. They don't seem to just be on the outermost layer, as you can see more deeper. I'm not sure if this is some sort of perpendicular crystal pattern, or it's just the shape of the original material that was replaced with the mineral. And maximum zoom. A stack of 12 microscope images taken through the lens in the same area of the above photo. And that's it. Is this a small piece of woody material that was preserved in the sea? I wonder if vinegar would clean this up or destroy the mineral as well.

In fact there was one more box to open,always without ID :(,it's very light and strange,natural?

The very last unknown ID is this polished green slab. I'm looking for green stones on the web, but I still am not finding a slab like this one. If somebody could help?

In the old collection ,i also find this slab,and after few search i have found this ID:Utah sandstone (united states) kanab sandstone is it right?They sell pieces of the cliffs ? There is also this very strange very fin slab,Dali last paint?What is it?? Thanks for the help !

i received few minerals(sometimes sliced and polished) from a old collection mixed with fossils,mostly without name and location some are very easy to ID (I think),but i know nothing about minerals,if somebody could help?It would be very happy,this one seems to be for me kind of coprolithe,perhaps??? regards

hello all, I found a lot of this specific type of rock and I thought they could be fossils. Now I'm not so sure. They have what appears to have a spongy inside and flat outside, on the sides that are still there. I tried to take pictures to show them well. A few of the pieces have two "lobes" at one end and the lobes appear to be splitting. They are all the same color, though some are dry and some are damp still. I was trying to figure this out on my own, and I thought it could possibly be coal (if not a fossil), but i really don't know how to test it. My husband did try to light it on fire... it did not catch fire. If you need more pictures, let me know. I got these in a river in Williamson County Tennessee. I believe the only dinosaur we have that's been found is hadrosaur specifically edmontosaurs. There have been multiple types of megafauna mammals like sloths, rhinos, and mammoths. If these are nothing, I will be sad, but at least I'll know not to pick these up anymore! LOL. Thanks! IMG_4308.heic

Yesterday (9-11-2021) I went to the Denver fossil show. It was my first time going and I really enjoyed it. Most of the show was minerals and gems and jewelry however there were quite a few fossils. Unfortunately, most were Moroccan. There were some Pleistocene fossils, Meg teeth, USA Dino material and a few other things. Well might as well start with the photos. Let’s start with the few mineral pictures i took. Next up the Moroccan material which dominated the fossils present.

Any Thoughts?

Okay I don't even know what to say or think about this one. I've had it for some time & you can see why I kept it. It's just weird, it looks like whatever those "beans" are fell from enough of a height to make an indent in the ground below. I also had the thought that this was once part of a wall & these "beans" were dust particles on a bead of water that petrified in the bottom of the indent. The problem with that is the smaller one contradicts that idea unless the wall shifted reorienting this piece. Then on the other side it gets even more interesting. Now your looking at a hole with some kind of round object lodged in the bottom of it. Obviously this isn't the case but it looks like a "BB" shot into some mud. The "BB" has evenly spaced lines wrapping around it which you can see in the close-up picture. It's always fun to speculate about stuff like this but I'd really like to understand what I'm looking at here & how it happened. Thanks in advance.

Hey all, it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted to this site. I’ve been stumped with a family find from Sossusvlei, Namibia. I don’t identify minerals as readily as fossils, and I figured it was time to differ to the expertise of those on the site. It is a surprisingly heavy stone, and the most striking part of the piece are the deep grooves along the surface that I assume were done by sand over the course of a long period of time. Top Down view:

What do you think. Found in James river. Central Virginia

Hi guys, I recently started learning to fossil hunt for my son as he loves dinosaurs and on our first trip we found this in a limestone. I am completely new and really sorry if this borders on an insult to some of your experience but I have no idea whether to crack the rock open and have a look or whether I’d end up breaking a fossil of some kind if I did or whether it is just a mineral running through of some sort! There was a much larger rock with the same streaks but in a diamond shape on the beach so if it is a fossil I’ll be running back there ASAP Thank you in advance (I’ll thank again afterwards too!) and I’m glad to have found a community on here to help further my knowledge!

How are these pyrite sphere made? These were found in Georgetown, Texas 20210101_021548.mp4

Had this for several years. Any ideas what it might be should I break it open

These were all found in the same river, over time. It is a river in SE Texas known for fossil finds from large mammals in the Pleistocene. I think due to their river tumbling they are not identifiable, but I just wanted to see if it is possible they could be some type on mineral rather than bones? Pics are front back. We find a lot of petrified wood in the area too, but it normally looks distinct from this. The two on the left almost look like they are variations of the same thing, and the one second from left has some kind of almost enamelish looking stuff in threads on the surface. None are metallic, a magnet does not stick and my metal detector does not beep going over them. The one in center with all the layers I would normally ID as some kind of tooth, as I have seen that before. Any thoughts would be appreicated.

Hello, I found this close to Jebel Hafeet, AL Ain, UAE (United Arab Emirates). I found many other calcite crystals in the location, but this one stuck out. Growing on top of the calcite was some gypsum (I assume, since I could scratch it with my nail) and inside of the gypsum there appeared to be iron. Can someone confirm that this is what it is? I don't collect so many minerals, but this is definitely a keeper.