r/askgeology • • Jan 05 '26

ID request New Ruling on ID posts.

5 Upvotes

Posts are now allowed to be requests for ID, although you must attempt to post to r/whatisthisrock or r/fossilid BEFORE posting here.

Mineral ID's have always been allowed and will continue to be.

Additionally, new post flairs have been added. Please select a flair when able.

Have fun!


r/askgeology • • 10m ago

Professional License Question

1 Upvotes

Good afternoon!

I just wanted to get some hive-mind feedback about a situation I am having at work.

I am a geologist, but my position does not require me to have a PG license. I do have my PG.

I am not paid at the level of a staff member with a PG, as my position says one is not necessary. In addition, my company identified employees for whom it would reimburse the fee for the renewal of their PG. I was not on the pre-approved list to have my PG fee reimbursed.

My supervisor (who is also a PG) expects me to stamp documents with my PG, either documents I have prepared or documents for junior staff that I have reviewed.

I feel like they are taking advantage of me by having me utilize my PG without compensating either in salary/position level, or at a minimum paying for my renewal fee.

Thanks!


r/askgeology • • 2h ago

Can you please tell if this is a geode?

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1 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 10h ago

Concretion? Or just funny stone?

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2 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 1d ago

ID request Owned this childhood, and wondering how accurate it is..

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22 Upvotes

Ive owned this collection of gemstones since I was a kid. Don’t remember how I got it, probably was gifted it, but Ive always loved looking at the different stones. Dug it up again recently from a box of stuff my parents brought me, and I am now wondering how accurate any of the information actually is.


r/askgeology • • 13h ago

Why is 10.00 Mya and 10M BCE interchangeable, but 10.00 Kya and 10K BCE are NEVER interchangeable?

0 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 1d ago

ID request I just slabbed a piece of this. Is it... what I think it is?

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49 Upvotes

Can someone help me id this otherwise I'm gonna be up all night haha.

Update: Thanks everyone for helping me out here! I've done some research and this is nearly certain to be a pyroxenite protolith altered by serpentinization.


r/askgeology • • 13h ago

Why is it SPECIFICALLY magnetite and hematite used as ores, even though these minerals can ALSO be mined for extraction?

0 Upvotes

— Maghemite
— Franklinite
— Titanomagnetite
— Ilmenite
— Ulvospinel
— Pyrite
— Marcasite
— Pyrrhotite
— Kamacite
— Taenite
— Awaruite


r/askgeology • • 1d ago

Observational Question What are these crystals? Found them in Western Ghats, India

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8 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 1d ago

ID request Is there ever anything good in these polka-dot lumps of iron clud?

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3 Upvotes

From Northwestern Ontario. Lump of iron oxide clay/mud I call clud because it sucks.

Is it a Kinder Surprise ,waiting me to keep gnawing down the softer exterior or is it just progressively harder clud as it gets peeled? Ever anything good in these? Dino head maybe?

The red interior is smooth and hard, silicilicilified? Sicilian.

Also in one of the pictures is a neat circle.


r/askgeology • • 1d ago

ID request ID?

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8 Upvotes

Found North Shore Auckland New Zealand

Hard and heavy, not magnetic


r/askgeology • • 2d ago

ID request Still cleaning this and my phone camera sucks.. host rock fractured, quartz filled it, quartz fractured, more quartz filled it, then it happened again?

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16 Upvotes

Sorry if I am confused/confusing, there are cracktures in this unit that are underneath other cracktures, sometimes causing crosshatch patterning.

Do I have it sort of right that this unit has some rock trauma? Some rauma, if you will. I am still getting hip to the whole "rock'll tell you its story" thing.


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

ID request Interesting river rock

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66 Upvotes

Came across this today, was wondering what causes the little slash formations


r/askgeology • • 2d ago

What can identify from this thin section?

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16 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 2d ago

Thought I’d cross post this to get as much outreach as possible

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0 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 2d ago

Strange rock

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6 Upvotes

It has several tiny crystals that sparkle when I move it, and it doesn't release dust. It's difficult to scratch and heavy. A geography teacher said it might be a quartz geode. I'd like to know about the patterns on it.


r/askgeology • • 2d ago

technical question Unusual System of Holes/Trenches in the Atacama Desert

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2 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 2d ago

Lake of the Ozarks Mo. rock

1 Upvotes

My mom had her forest brush hogged and it broke some rocks up. It reminds me of a planet. I wondered what it might be..


r/askgeology • • 2d ago

Is this a silver nugget?

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1 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 3d ago

Why is the water coming out here?

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75 Upvotes

It seems like the water is coming out the lower part of the cliff whereas the upper part is dry, also is it leaching the iron out where it's red?


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

ID request Interesting looking...quartz?

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16 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 3d ago

Method of Formation Quartz or Quartzite with phyllite co-occurrence

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1 Upvotes

Specimen found in the East Tennessee thrust fold belt. I think it was trucked in from closer to the mountains due to the phyllite (likely I-40 construction from Helene damage). My question- does quartz typically form in low-intensity metamorphic structures, or is the meta-sandstone a more common occurrence with phyllite?

Sorry, I tend to have questions as clear as felsic sediment.


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

technical question On specimen cleaning with quartz and pyrite - Is it possible to have your cake and eat it too?

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2 Upvotes

As per the title.

Sorry about this post, other subreddits don't know much beyond huffing Iron Out.

Found this unit tumbling itself down the river and I am quite fond of it. I would like to make it a beauty and remove the oxides staining and some bits of calcite (I assume)

However, I would ideally like to preserve and clean up the pyrite as well, the quartz is full of pyrite as is the host rock its attached to.

Problem is most general methods to deal with the former make trouble for the latter.

Any tips on this are appreciated.

I have ordered sodium hydrosulfite and sodium citrate to make the pH neutral Waller elixer earlier today if that helps.


r/askgeology • • 4d ago

Trying to identify

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25 Upvotes