FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[PegmatiteAppreciator]

Hello Folks,

I have a property in Bedford Virginia which is a county known to have some pegmatite. There are at least 3 mines close by with documented finds of the substance.
I have a lot of blue quartz on my property, and these rocks that have a mixture of feldspar, blue and clear quartz, and muscovite. There might be some other minerals mixed in there as well like tiny tourmalines and some kind of amphibole. The biggest reason I think I have pegmatite on my property is the presence of quartz prisms in close proximity to this type of rock. I find full prisms by the creek bank and bed and some 250 yards above that near my garden. I also find some partial prisms/quartz with faces.

Some of what I find seems to look similar to the North Carolina Crabtree pegmatite- only with a more blue-ish appearance instead of emerald.


I also have what some geologists have told me is diabase. Magnets stick to all of those specimens, and they have rust colored rinds. Most are roundly weathered and I’ve cut a few. I don’t have any bubbles in them like basalt does so I’d like to think they’re intrusive. Some geologists say that blue quartz is a basement rock around here.

One of the most interesting things about this diabase (apart from the silvery spots in them), is the fact that under a digital microscope, you can see what appears to be blue quartz in a polished slab.
Another interesting point is that all of the specimens I’m finding have these iridescent specks in them. This includes blue quartz, clear, yellow and red hematoid quartz, and the diabase. I’m thinking maybe they could be either incredibly fine specs of biotite mica, chromite, or brookite due to the blue quartz. I’m no expert- just hungry for knowledge and I’m here to learn.

What do you all think? If what I have isn't a type of pegmatite, how else are the quartz prisms forming? I probably have over 200 pictures of different specimens so its hard to show the big picture through a forum post and hard to decide what to post. I realize this is a bit of an overload.
Are there resources to view documented volcanic activity in Virginia?
Thanks in advance to any and all insight offered.

[PegmatiteAppreciator]

I'm used to posting pictures much more quickly on forums through my cell phone but this interface is a bit slower for me. I posted some pictures I didn't mean to since I didn't name the files. I'll post a few more pictures of the diabase here.

These are more to prove corroboration/volcanic activity here. You can see the magnets sticking all over the big slab in the picture.

[PegmatiteAppreciator]

I wanted to post a few more pictures of my findings. I'll probably add more as I have time.

[James Catmur]

It might make sense to talk to your local university's geology department