Help identifying a rock/crystal type?

Padma

Hi! Not sure what I have here, but I have found several lying as a border to the sidewalk along the nearby park path. I have found them in grey, pink, white/clear, and yellow...

Is it some kind of recycled glass? But it looks so much like crystal...and rock. Not sure how they could fake a rock exterior so convincingly. My best guess is calcite, due to the texture, but it seems like an odd or expensive use of calcite...can it merely be some kind of quartz...? Anyways! Guess away - anything else you can think of? Please help I.D. the mystery stone! ;)
 

Attachments

  • what crystal (640x640).jpg
    what crystal (640x640).jpg
    145.3 KB · Views: 163
  • what kind of crystal (640x640).jpg
    what kind of crystal (640x640).jpg
    148.4 KB · Views: 158
  • what kind of rock (640x640).jpg
    what kind of rock (640x640).jpg
    214.2 KB · Views: 155

Padma

two more pics - with and without flash...
 

Attachments

  • with flash (640x640).jpg
    with flash (640x640).jpg
    162.3 KB · Views: 158
  • without flash (640x640).jpg
    without flash (640x640).jpg
    178 KB · Views: 167

Aster Breo

My guess is quartz.
 

jolie_amethyst

I'd lean towards calcite too. I know around here, all kinds of local stone can show up in bags or piles of pathway rocks, and calcite isn't really uncommon.
 

Padma

Aster Breo, thanks, I did think common quartz except for the weird, glassine, soapy feel of the rocks - well, the part showing the crystal, anyways...

Which leads me to you, JolieAmethyst - Calcite was my guess, merely by touch. Even raw, it has the same odd, cool, soapy feel...hard to describe. I just thought that calcite was too expensive to throw about - evidently not! ;)

If anyone else can take a stab or confirm, please do so! I so appreciate the feedback...

May take these to my local rock/gem store, as calcite is such a wonderful rock and find!

Of course, quartz is quite welcome to live here, too ;)
 

devilkitty

Time for a geologist to weigh in...

It looks to me like a fractured pebble of quartzite - a metamorphosed quartz-cemented sandstone.

Try this: take a knife blade and try to scratch the shiny face. If it doesn't scratch, that's a strong indicator that my assessment is correct.
 

Padma

Time for a geologist to weigh in...

It looks to me like a fractured pebble of quartzite - a metamorphosed quartz-cemented sandstone.

Try this: take a knife blade and try to scratch the shiny face. If it doesn't scratch, that's a strong indicator that my assessment is correct.

Woohoo! Looks like you win! :royal: Thanks, Devil Kitty! :thumbsup: It did not scratch. And now I need to go learn about quartzite, which I have heard of, but do not know much about. I love how I always learn things here!

Thanks again, everyone! :love: