FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[MarkG12]

Hello, new to this forum and was looking for some expertise on identifying some rocks I have. The first set of pictures are the ones I'm most curious about, and any help would be much appreciated. I know there some type of basalt/lava rock boulders but when you cut them open there are amazing different colors inside depending on the rock. I can't find much info on this anywhere. Is their opalized basalt? Thanks for any help.

[MarkG12]

This is a picture of the boulders before they are cut open to see what they look like on the outside. You can see the one in the foreground has the color of the inside peeking out the top.

[MarkG12]

I was just wondering if I posted my pictures correctly, It says I have 80- plus views, but I don't see any responses with help Identifying these rocks. Just want to make sure I'm following correct procedures or posting the pictures in the right section for comment. They look like a type of Basalt/Lava rock but I'm new at this and didn't know lava rocks could be so colorful inside? Are these rare? Thanks for any help

[Josele]

Hello Mark, maybe you have no responses because often is not possible identifying rocks just seeing photos.
I don't know what these beautiful rocks are but to me they don't look like basalt.
You can look at the geological map of the zone where they were found and see what kind of rocks outcrop there.
If you give a more precise location maybe somebody who knows the zone can help.
Good luck!

[John Cesar]

Mark, this forum is for the mineral world not the lapidary world. I happen to like both of these worlds. Regardless, what you have is some nice agate and jasper. Being located in Oregon and showing sawed material I can't help but think you already know what material you have.

[Bob Harman]

Looks like colorful Oregon Obsidian. The smaller pieces with banding patterns might be called agates. Most of the colorful examples shown on Mindat come from the Glass Buttes area of Lake County Oregon.
Are your pictured examples from near that locality? BOB

[MarkG12]

Thank you for the responses, Just to give a quick explanation, I purchased a home in Oregon a year ago in the woods, I have always loved rocks/minerials, but never really was that knowledgeable about them. I was told by real estate agent the previous owner was an avid Rock hound for 50 plus years, and he passed away and everything was just left here, after a year of cleaning overgrown brush I'm left with literally tons of different rocks/minerials, you can see where he has been cutting slab pieces of these rocks over the years, most all buried in dirt and debris.there is so much material from already cut pieces to big boulders, which the pictures I posted, I thought were volcanic rock which sure look like it, but there all different colors inside, just trying to find a starting point to identifying these rocks. Maybe there would be a better forum for this purpose, any suggestions would be great, thanks again for everybody's time.

[rernst]

I think your post brought a lot of clarity concerning your situation. I would suggest that you look around for a rock club in the area. It's likely that the previous owner was a member or someone in the club knows who they were, it's a small community. Much of what you have shown is nice material so hang on to it until you know more about what you have. Looks like you might have a new hobby.

[Bob Morgan]

I am certainly no authority on Oregon rocks having only visited there several times with in-laws, but one specimen looks to be Biggs picture stone and the next, the one with turquoise color might be a really nice piece of varicite,