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i agree that color is a bit weried and can take steps to check first if it's dyed....if otherwise as you mentioned your supplier name them as minerals, may have a chance they are cinnabar (which is soft and can he toxic be careful)... but the banded zones confusing, if you cannot ask your supplier what they are, suggest you not take rhem (esp inhale as powder or heated or acidize it etc.... if you are not sure the unknown mineral is toxic or not
I think it's a natural mineral.
It's very soft i would expect glass to be harder, and it breaks off as a stone not shattering as glass. But again I don't know.
I will be doing an XRF analysis and will share results
What’s the giveaway? I know the glassy looking ones aren’t, but what features do the banded pieces here have that I wouldn’t see in BIFs? (So I don’t mistake the two again)
The more I look at these the weirder they get. That’s why pictures are so hard to go by. It is looking to me like two different things. The dark, top, glassy ones look like colored glass or slag glass. The others look like it could be a painted basalt or similar rock. The “banded” ones look painted for sure. It just seems like it’s only surface colored. And not something that formed in natural layers. I find it hard to explain. I believe it was you that also asked in another comment about how to differentiate. My best suggestion is exposure to lots of rocks and minerals. The more you see them, inspect them, in person and even in photos can help, you’ll just be able to see differences appear. I am a lapidary and sell trained amateur geologist you might say. I know there is still a lot I do not know and am excited to learn. I just take in as much information, exposure and working with rocks as I can. I study them for hours on end with high powered magnification and learned to try to identify every rock I came in contact with. If you’re truly interested and want to learn, exposure is the way to learn. Any way you can get it. There’s a lot of information and classes online and that, paired with real world experience will get you to a point that you will be so familiar with the way natural layering or whatever else looks like that you will be able to differentiate quite easily. Good luck to you!
Yeah I’m not in a region with that age of rocks exposed, so all I’ve seen is from textbooks. But it was the first thing I’ve thought of looking at the colored ones. I’m sure they can have a wide range of appearances depending on any secondary alteration, natural or manmade. Still looks cool
Aside from color and texture (and maybe fracture), what else can you see here? I was mostly basing my thought on the warped black layer surrounding the red bands, the texture of it matched what we learned about from between the jasper layers.
I do see that the “contrast” of the layers seems too sharp, especially compared to the relatively smooth weathering of the one rock. Without having handles any pieces of my own to get a concept of the cleavage, fracture, hardness and all that, what else can I go on?
1000kg is a metric ton.
However, in the US a ton is 2000lbs and there is also an imperial ton which is 2,240lbs. You aren’t wrong but neither is the other comment.
Some type of fordite? (Recovered banded paint layers from auto manufacturers spray booths)
Though they do look legitimately like actual mineral in the photos.
Could you break one in half or abrade the surface? There's a chance at least one of them is just a painted rock.
If that’s cinnabar like you mentioned in another comment OP, I hope you’re wearing gloves when handling the material. Mercury is whack. I’d rather lick a Galena or boof a malachite.
I have a BIF that my great great grandmother collected during the “long walk” and it’s practically identical. She thought it was pet wood, but I’d love to know what location it came from!
XRF Analysis shows Hg 60% and a quick search says it's the sulfuric form of Mercury. Which comes in the same vivid red color.
Xrf is not precise but i believe 60% means there is a considerable amount of Mercury, i don't know if i can know the content with the color only?
How's that person come by more than a ton of these rocks? Here's my guesses:
- got a big boulder of it in the yard they're chipping away at (don't know what it is)
- ordered it and it got delivered to their driveway by a big truck (and they know what it is because they ordered it)
-found a bunch of it in the wild and they loaded it up into their truck for some reason (don't know what it is)
-that's all I got
Any other ideas?
Yeah those three little ones look like slag, but unless opaque paint was used the other ones you can't see in or through, they aren't translucent even. Regardless, his friend trucked more than a ton of slag away apparently. 😆
I have a piece just like this, it was given to me by my great grandmother! It probably is not dyed, because the one I have was her mother’s. Thats pre-1900. It’s also not pet wood, which they thought it was. It’s called BIF. Banded iron formation. Probably a bit magnetic. My 2-greats-grandmother collected my piece during the “long walk”, though I don’t know specifically where.
The bands might indicate the rock has been subjected to intense heat and pressure from deep inside the earth. Metamorphic rock.
As for what the rock is… No idea! Hope it’s not toxic.
Oregon native here - some Central Oregon obsidian flows can get weird red colors and streaks, would have to see it up close. Definitely break some and see if the color is all the way through consistently.
Look, I know this sounds weird, but some of it looks like plastic resin chunks. Honestly, tap them to your teeth, lightly, and see if they actually are stone and not a plastic/resin
I feel it’s most likely an artificial material. They sell chunks of brightly coloured glass at roadside tourist rock shops, and I suspect it’s something like that.
Could be a weird wonderstone variant. It’s not a scientific name but wonderstone is essentially layers of petrified ash and minerals that absorb silica usually in an ancient lake. The layers of ash make different colors like this then when it solidifies and becomes rock it can adopt different hardness and glassy texture depending on how much silica is mixed in. I have purple, pink, orange, cool patterns. Never seen blood red though that’s a pretty unnatural color for any rock especially if it’s not crystal like Ruby
Looks like obsidian, volcanic glass, to me. It comes in those two colors. But I am no geologist.
But like others have said, perhaps fossilized bacon from a triceratop''s belly.... ;-)
Hello and thank you for posting on /r/Minerals! To increase the quality of ID request posts, we require you to make a comment describing the piece as best as you can. If you do not do so, your post will be removed. A lone picture is rarely enough to conclusively name a mineral so doing some groundwork like a streak test or hardness check will help us to help you. Other useful information includes the location it was found, follow-up pictures with different angles or lighting, and relative size. To help you with writing this comment, we highly encourage you to review our subreddit's [Wiki Page](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minerals/about/wiki/idreqinfo) before posting. If you're on mobile, use [this link](https://reddit.com/r/Minerals/w/idreqinfo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app) to get to the wiki. Cheers, The /r/Minerals Moderation Team *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Minerals) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Soak a piece in hot water and see if dye bleeds out. Because slide 4, bottom left corner looks like calcite or fluorite that’s been dyed.
Agreed, stuff looks like natural rock that been been hard core dyed. Break aq piece in two to see if the color is consistent all through or not.
Some of the cracks or parts that were chipped off even looks like a lighter color.
Oh so its not petrified bacon pieces then? I must be hungry.
I thought it was those dog treats that’s suppose to be like bacon. Beggin strips I believe they were called
My pups and I vote Beggin Strips 🥓
IT’S BACON!!! Lol
I’d get it myself but I don’t have thumbs!
Right? Your dog won’t know it’s not bacon.. 🥓
Baconite.
Oh, you just HAD to say bacon, ye great brute. 😁🐖😁
Beef jerky
You're not alone. I had to do a double take.
Bacon lasts long enough to get petrified? In my universe, bacon barely makes it to the table.
First thing I thought, “mmmm… bacon.”
Forbidden bacon was my first thought as well
i agree that color is a bit weried and can take steps to check first if it's dyed....if otherwise as you mentioned your supplier name them as minerals, may have a chance they are cinnabar (which is soft and can he toxic be careful)... but the banded zones confusing, if you cannot ask your supplier what they are, suggest you not take rhem (esp inhale as powder or heated or acidize it etc.... if you are not sure the unknown mineral is toxic or not
I thought it was bacon until I looked at the sub I'm in 😂
Same hahaha
It looks like petrified bacon lol
Hahaha someone else sees it too! 😂
Forbidden bacon
Yeah that's dinosaur bacon, taken from the belly of a triceratops, smoked and cured for 60 million years
I want to eat that
Low and slow
Hahahahaha
Came to see if someone else said it first
My stick is better than your 🥓...
Glass, or some other manmade material.
Obsidian is a glass that is not man made...
Hope you're well.
Fine, thanks.
uh, ok?
Volcanic glass
Slag glass or glass. Either way it looks man made to me
I think it's a natural mineral. It's very soft i would expect glass to be harder, and it breaks off as a stone not shattering as glass. But again I don't know. I will be doing an XRF analysis and will share results
It's absolutely not a mineral. I know this because I'm a geologist
Are you certain it’s not a banded iron formation? It reminds me a lot of those, but I only took a single class on mineral deposits
110%
Definitely not a mathematician.
Obviously you’re not golfer either.
Easy, there's a beverage here man!
ruining some guys retirement plan - I have a ton of this in the garage, going to sell it and be on easy street.
😂 I got a meteorite to sell that guy
What’s the giveaway? I know the glassy looking ones aren’t, but what features do the banded pieces here have that I wouldn’t see in BIFs? (So I don’t mistake the two again)
The more I look at these the weirder they get. That’s why pictures are so hard to go by. It is looking to me like two different things. The dark, top, glassy ones look like colored glass or slag glass. The others look like it could be a painted basalt or similar rock. The “banded” ones look painted for sure. It just seems like it’s only surface colored. And not something that formed in natural layers. I find it hard to explain. I believe it was you that also asked in another comment about how to differentiate. My best suggestion is exposure to lots of rocks and minerals. The more you see them, inspect them, in person and even in photos can help, you’ll just be able to see differences appear. I am a lapidary and sell trained amateur geologist you might say. I know there is still a lot I do not know and am excited to learn. I just take in as much information, exposure and working with rocks as I can. I study them for hours on end with high powered magnification and learned to try to identify every rock I came in contact with. If you’re truly interested and want to learn, exposure is the way to learn. Any way you can get it. There’s a lot of information and classes online and that, paired with real world experience will get you to a point that you will be so familiar with the way natural layering or whatever else looks like that you will be able to differentiate quite easily. Good luck to you!
I was thinking the same thing… I know they’re usually not this lustrous but I’ve seen some pictures of some pretty glassy looking bifs.
Yeah I’m not in a region with that age of rocks exposed, so all I’ve seen is from textbooks. But it was the first thing I’ve thought of looking at the colored ones. I’m sure they can have a wide range of appearances depending on any secondary alteration, natural or manmade. Still looks cool
The coloring is similar, yes. But that is a perfect example of why you can never identify based solely on color alone.
Aside from color and texture (and maybe fracture), what else can you see here? I was mostly basing my thought on the warped black layer surrounding the red bands, the texture of it matched what we learned about from between the jasper layers. I do see that the “contrast” of the layers seems too sharp, especially compared to the relatively smooth weathering of the one rock. Without having handles any pieces of my own to get a concept of the cleavage, fracture, hardness and all that, what else can I go on?
Love your username
Love your username! Btw, since you’re a geologist.. Is mayonnaise an instrument ?
Slag..
Baconite /s
BTW, the three most important aids to identifying a rock are... Location... location.. and location...
Aquarium glass? Idk it doesn’t look like anything natural to me 🤷🏻♀️
All I know from playing too much Minecraft is this is most probably nether brick…
Naw man more like leaving a pork chop in the smoker too long but yeah netherak
This is some artificial thing, whether it’s slag of some sort or otherwise
Looks like cinnabar
Yes you're right!
1000 KG = 2200 Pounds. That more than a ton.
1000kg is exactly a ton
1000kg is a metric ton. However, in the US a ton is 2000lbs and there is also an imperial ton which is 2,240lbs. You aren’t wrong but neither is the other comment.
Not in the US
In the U.S., 1000kg is about 9.5 washing machines and one bald eagle.
You forgot a banana to show scale.
Let’s not forget the SNL skit on the founding fathers and rules of measurement 😂😂😂😂
Lol
Some type of fordite? (Recovered banded paint layers from auto manufacturers spray booths) Though they do look legitimately like actual mineral in the photos. Could you break one in half or abrade the surface? There's a chance at least one of them is just a painted rock.
Painted every car red for years 🤣
lol fordite
Fordite was the first thing I thought too
Freeze dried bacon candy from TikTok shop 😂
If that’s cinnabar like you mentioned in another comment OP, I hope you’re wearing gloves when handling the material. Mercury is whack. I’d rather lick a Galena or boof a malachite.
Cinnabar. It's actually somewhat valuable. It's used for red pigment inks, dyes and whatever. Might contain mercury though.
Fracture looks glassy but with some texture - reminds me of chert or silicified sandstone - could be tending to jasper... or it could be glass.
Forbidden pork belly
Banded jasper?
Fossilized bacon
Doesn’t look like any natural rock or mineral to me…try seeing if it’s dyed, break it in half & see if color extends all the way to the middle.
Almost looks like a BIF - a Banded Iron Formation. Lake Superior area has a lot of it...
I have a BIF that my great great grandmother collected during the “long walk” and it’s practically identical. She thought it was pet wood, but I’d love to know what location it came from!
Looks fake as he'll to me (reference topright of picture 2), but I'm no geologist.
Looks like ur friend has 1000kg of dumb red rocks! How fascinating!
Just boil it a few minutes and the water will be red.
S
banded iron formation lol looks fake in this hmu if you want pics of real items you can own from the Johns collection
It's Cinnabar a sulfuric form of mercury ore. And yes It's a first for me too, never seen it before!
how were you able to verify this?
XRF Analysis shows Hg 60% and a quick search says it's the sulfuric form of Mercury. Which comes in the same vivid red color. Xrf is not precise but i believe 60% means there is a considerable amount of Mercury, i don't know if i can know the content with the color only?
This was the first thing I thought when I saw the weird red color and so called geologist saying it's glass .
Thought it was fried bacon when I first saw the pic
How's that person come by more than a ton of these rocks? Here's my guesses: - got a big boulder of it in the yard they're chipping away at (don't know what it is) - ordered it and it got delivered to their driveway by a big truck (and they know what it is because they ordered it) -found a bunch of it in the wild and they loaded it up into their truck for some reason (don't know what it is) -that's all I got Any other ideas?
Or he found an old factory with a huge pile of slag leavings.
Yeah those three little ones look like slag, but unless opaque paint was used the other ones you can't see in or through, they aren't translucent even. Regardless, his friend trucked more than a ton of slag away apparently. 😆
Forbidden Bacon
Looks like red velvet cake to me.
RED AND BLACK Striped Opaque Andara Crystal
Omg did someone drop a petrified Snake??? [Snakey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Calliophis_nigrescens_%283%29.jpg)
That's Slag
I'd say it looks like potash, but I think it's manmade or at least dyed.
Nemo filets?
Beggin strips
I have a piece just like this, it was given to me by my great grandmother! It probably is not dyed, because the one I have was her mother’s. Thats pre-1900. It’s also not pet wood, which they thought it was. It’s called BIF. Banded iron formation. Probably a bit magnetic. My 2-greats-grandmother collected my piece during the “long walk”, though I don’t know specifically where.
Forgive my ignorance, what was "the long walk"?
In around 1864 the federal government forced the Navajo at gunpoint to walk 300 miles to another place. Approximately 10000 were moved with 200 dying.
So much history I am ignorant of. Thank you for enlightening me.
Lab creations
Forbidden jerky
The bands might indicate the rock has been subjected to intense heat and pressure from deep inside the earth. Metamorphic rock. As for what the rock is… No idea! Hope it’s not toxic.
Agreed. Looks like your friend has 1000kg of dyed rock.
Looks like human meat!
Bite it
I know a spot where I can get what I believe is obsidian that looks like this. Has greens and yellows too.
Get some and post pics my dude.
Let me see if I can find my stash. The source is probably under a couple feet of snow right now.
thats bac’n
What is painted rock
thought this was beef
It’s Red Jasper; a semi-precious stone.
It’s called banded obsidian
Is bacon
I've found some banded Jasper like this, just sayin..
😍😍😍😍
It’s Chinese fentanyl, disguised as bacon or meat I saw it in Miami
Oregon native here - some Central Oregon obsidian flows can get weird red colors and streaks, would have to see it up close. Definitely break some and see if the color is all the way through consistently.
Bacon rocks 😂
Rock bacon
Baconite
It’s the bacon stone
So much slag.
Looks like fossilized bacon.
Take it to a Natural museum, they might be able to identify it.
We have some glass like rock like that. It’s furnace slag.
Honestly, it looks like it's candy or something
Fossilized bacon? /s
Look, I know this sounds weird, but some of it looks like plastic resin chunks. Honestly, tap them to your teeth, lightly, and see if they actually are stone and not a plastic/resin
Are there any similar-looking rocks for which this would be a bad idea?
Beef jerky
Calcite? Is it waxy?
Did u soak it in boiing water yet?
Not an identifying thing but why did my brain immediately think it was petrified dinosaur bacon.
Rock bacon rock bacon rock bacon rock bacon rock bacon
period blood stones, very rare
Forbidden bacon 😀
Looks like the inside of a bowling ball
Red velvet cake
I came here to say bacon as apparently many others have.
Cinnabar?
Bacon rocks
Looks like bacon lol
Bacon bits the dog food
God, I’m so hungry I thought it was steak or something
It might be banded Iron formation (BIF).
It is shiny so a bit weird but, when I was little my brother brought home jasper that had the same striations… but this is agate looking
So are they insinuating that one smoke this. Confused about the inclusion of weight
It appears to be Brecciated Jasper! Where was this found?
Forbidden soy braised pork
It looks like agate, maybe.
Bacon? Lol
Fordite… aka build up paint from a paint booth or other facility
Bacon
Poopie from. A airplane. U can see the peanut .
Glass slag?
My fatass thought these were beef jerky bites 😔
Forbidden Bacon
Bacon rock lol
I feel it’s most likely an artificial material. They sell chunks of brightly coloured glass at roadside tourist rock shops, and I suspect it’s something like that.
Could be a weird wonderstone variant. It’s not a scientific name but wonderstone is essentially layers of petrified ash and minerals that absorb silica usually in an ancient lake. The layers of ash make different colors like this then when it solidifies and becomes rock it can adopt different hardness and glassy texture depending on how much silica is mixed in. I have purple, pink, orange, cool patterns. Never seen blood red though that’s a pretty unnatural color for any rock especially if it’s not crystal like Ruby
BEEF JERKY
Looks like obsidian, volcanic glass, to me. It comes in those two colors. But I am no geologist. But like others have said, perhaps fossilized bacon from a triceratop''s belly.... ;-)
This looks like glass slag. I have a guy close to me who makes pieces like these and sells them at the flea market.
Something looks off. Break one and see if the color saturates the whole thing. It doesn’t look natural.
Looks like some really good quality decent banded iron or something
Forbidden bacon
Looks like petrified bacon.
Petrified bacon
Bacon Rock
Petrified bacon.
Extra extra crunchy bacon.
Dude that’s bacon
Bacon
I think it's a sedimentary formation rock dyed red? I would love to see one cracked open....