FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[njmolinari]

Found this with my children in the Blackstone River in Massachusetts. Industrial by-product? Turquoise?

Lighter than I expected but I do not have a weight.

[njmolinari]

Also, it is greener in hand--the photos didn't quite capture that.

[Peter Megaw]

Thanks for posting. There is a guide on the home page to features we like to see to help make identifications, please check it out so you can get an idea how hardness, streak etc. help.

That said, these features apply to minerals more than rocks, which are aggregates of minerals. Your piece is almost certainly not turquoise. It looks like a chlorite rich sandstone to me...the green is more typical of an iron green than a copper green

[njmolinari]

Thanks for the information.

[Peter Lemkin]

If you want help with knowing what it is you will have to do some [easy/fun] work and follow the directions on the website....however, turquoise I can assure you it is not. Not only because it doesn't look like it, but you found it in MA - very far from where I believe the nearest might be found.