Gorgeous Rocks and Minerals! (With Pictures!!!)

Ever since I was little I've always been fascinated with rocks and minerals. To the point that every pebble I found needed to be cracked open to see if really was a geode, housing away precious beauties! The Museum where I live has a fantastic collection and is on display in a way where it really shows just how intricate and interesting these natural formations really are. So, I'd like to share some of them here with you!



Hope you enjoy! (CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM)

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Calcite with Quartz from Huanggang Mine, Inner Mongolia, China

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Millerite 7 x 7 x 0.5 Kerr Addison Mine,Ontario,Canada This unusual specimen of millerite was found at the Kerr Addison gold mine in the Kirkland Lake area of northern Ontario. The delicate hair-like crystals are quite remarkable and a mineralogical oddity; such specimens are highly prized by collectors.

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Sunset Fire Opal

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Octahedral palladium crystals

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“Velvet Beauty” is a magnificent collector’s specimen from Bisbee, Arizona. This museum-quality piece of malachite and azurite was available for purchase at a rock and gem show for a mere $25,000.

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Crocoite

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Chrysocolla In Malachite

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Gold. “The Dragon” is an 18-cm. tall crystallized gold cluster on matrix from the Colorado Quartz mine in Mariposa County, California. This specimen was discovered in 1998 and now resides at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. American Mineral Treasures.

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Pyrite with Quartz

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Glaskopf Hematite

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Lightning Ridge Black Opal

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Dioptase

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Luz Opal

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Silver 11 x 10 x 4cm Silver Islet Mine,Ontario,Canada This is one of the finest known specimens from the Silver Islet mine.

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Pyrite crusted on the bevel edges of these cubes of calcite from China

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Epidote covered in Byssolite - Austria

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World's Largest Amethyst Geode

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Emerald green Brochantite needles to 20 mm

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Bismuth

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High quality, steeply terminated cluster of Neptunite crystals on a small amount of crossite schist and Natrolite matrix.

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Cave of the Crystals or Giant Crystal Cave (Spanish: Cueva de los Cristales) is a cave connected to the Naica Mine 300 metres (980 ft) below the surface in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico.

The main chamber contains giant selenite crystals (gypsum, CaSO4·2 H2O), some of the largest natural crystals ever found.

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The very first gift that I gave my wife when we were dating was a cluster of Pyrite, as we are both very interested in minerals. Needless to say, she loved it! Just as I hope you guys have enjoyed the images here.

If you have any interesting mineral photos, please feel free to post them!

As a very young kid, my sister and I would crush rocks behind our parents garage. My dad owned a land leveling company and we had rocks and gravel piles everywhere. We would sift for hours looking for a diamond so our parents didnt have to work. We never found a diamond, but we broke open thousands of rocks. We would take two bricks and crack each rock individually. Once in a while we would find a fossil of a shell or little creatures in the rock. They crushed just as quickly as the rest. If we only knew then what we were really looking at, who knows?

I was about to comment on how the Sunset Fire Opal was my favourite....then I scrolled down and found another...and another....and it went on until the end.

Each one is just as mesmerizing as the other in their own unique way.

Absolutely love this thread!

Enough computer backgrounds to last a lifetime right there.

a reply to: Ghost147

Beautiful! Those lightning and fire opal scream power to me; they look as if you could hold them in your hands and gain their elemental properties.

(yes I day dream too much) lol

Gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing these!

a reply to: Ghost147

Anyone know where I could get one of those fire opals? It would quickly become a prized possession in my collection.

On the side, for many of the girls I dated, a crystal or rock would usually be a choice present. They are also what I will buy to remember a trip; last major purchase was Max, my crystal skull from Plymouth, MI (there will be pictures at some point).

-foss

a reply to: fossilera

I would love to see your pics Foss!

Another awesome thread, thanks.


You are however missing one of the hardest rocks on earth, those found inside our Congressperson's heads.

I like rocks too, Glenn canyon has some awesome rocks and many places around the 4 corners region. I always bring a bag of rocks home from my trips.

Nice photos. I can heartily recommend this site which has some STUNNING photos of astounding gems...i have spent many hours on this website and its my number one go to when i need to model and render gemstones or rocks.

Enjoy:

www.irocks.com...

a reply to: warpig69

We would take two bricks and crack each rock individually.

[ smacking 2 bricks together ] WhackwhackwhackwhackTHUD Aaaagggrrrgghh!! "there goes that finger nail"

Beautiful pics Op.

a reply to: Ghost147

Thanks for starting this thread, a star & flag for you.

Mother Nature is so good at what she does, beautiful specimens. So hard to pick a favourite.

Namaste,
YogaGinns

originally posted by: 3danimator2014
Nice photos. I can heartily recommend this site which has some STUNNING photos of astounding gems...i have spent many hours on this website and its my number one go to when i need to model and render gemstones or rocks.

Enjoy:

www.irocks.com...

Great link, thank you. Have bookmarked it and will be spending much time in it. Lots of eye candy.

Namaste,
YogaGinns