Im puzzled by these beautiful minerals but confused as it wont tarnish after extreme glowing red map gas heat nor melt. It will melt ice at room temperature then quickly becomes colder then the ice it seems and will kinda freeze frost over and holds cold temperatures for a considerable amount of time but dissipates heat back
to room temp quick. Even threw in water glowing red with no effect. Strangly rings as a diamond on cheap diamond tester pen and will scratch glass and silver. From the 1 piece i did a gravity test and was 3.1. There are some pieces that are all crystaline it seems with a opaque light greyish blue tint. Then there are pieces that look chrome i guess. Octahedral ,triangle ,cubed, and many odd shapes and sizes. It has a amazing sparkle in the sun almost just like a diamond. Also under a UV light it has a minor glows of dark purple and exactly the same glow as steerling silver,exactly. Also it will conduct electricity as my volt meters beeps when you probe any 2 spots on it. It was not effected or tarnished in muriatic acid soak either. If anyone can identify lmk thanks
These look like Pyrite nodules. It is hard to tell from images, however, I have similar looking specimens in my collection. I have never tested them as you described, so I have no direct comparison to provide.
The Specific Gravity of 3.1 does not fall into the typical pure Pyrite range. A lot of nodules are sedimentary concretion pyrite, therefore, it could still be a within a reasonable range based on the aggregate matrix.
A diamond tester will most-likely provide a false reading. Iron Sulfide is fairly thermally conductive, not as much as a pure diamond, but these specimens could trick the tester based on the amount of mass they have versus the amount of thermal generation and transfer rate the tester can source. I would suspect that the tester’s indicator would decay outside of the diamond range, if it was held in place for some time. (Not a recommended experiment as it could damage your tester). This behavior can be partially collaborated / observed from your ice experiment.
The last two images: Are these the resultant examples after using MAP gas torch and/or muriatic acid bath?
Curious to know the geographic location these were collected from (If known).
Yes i did all i said to those amd if anything it made made it clearer or better looking but not no noticeable change and they where found in near kentucy Pennsylvania border where they had pushed dirt down level for parkimg lot and they paved over idk how much but it was like a vein of ot about 4 5 feet wide all laid down next to each other like brick and ran to the end of the cliff. Couldn’t find anymore in surrounding area
I cannot find Kentucy Pennsylvania. The state of Pennsylvania doesn’t border Kentucky so I’m confused as to the location. Can you please clarify? Thanks!!
pyrite will burn giving off sulfur dioxide gas if heated red hot… the smell is noxious and toxic… if it’s a metal sulfide, all of the sufides will burn when strongly heated… if the sample is put into hydrochloric acid (hardware store muriatic acid) , sufides will decompose into hydrogen sufide gas which is the toxic rotten eggs smell… If you heated your sample red hot without change, then it’s not a sulfide. metal oxide minerals like hematite won’t react to acid and are also heat resistant. They are dense and have high specific gravity, most are not electrically conductive, but are thermally conductive. magnetite is both heat and electrically conductive… it will give a high reading on a gem tester based on thermal conductivity…the crystal system is cubic, so crystal habits can be cubes, octahedrons (eqant bipyramids) and dodecahedrons…the luster will be metallic and shiny. if you have a few loose grains, see if they will stick to a strong magnet… refrigerator magnets are too weak… that would confirm magnetite and also ilmenite and also exclude hematite which is not magnetic nor a good electrical conductor.
The geology of the kentucky/pennsylvania area is quite complex… crystalline basement rocks are exposed in areas, while the cumberland plateaux is sedimentary with coal seams laid down over 300 million years ago… the crystalline basement is much older and exposures were the result of repeated continental collisions between north america and gondwanaland and pangea. Those rocks are all metamorphic at medium grade. If the rock samples were formed in a vein, the surrounding rocks should be metamorphic… iron or copper slag material can have a similar photo appearance but wouldn’t be found in a vein…
try to find more information than pictures alone… take a picture of the vein and surrounding rock if you can… do more home testing and be aware that the samples could also be a poly mineralic rock rather than a pure mineral…
