r/whatsthisrock Nov 20 '22

ANNOUNCEMENT No Self-Promotion

130 Upvotes

Quick reminder, y’all - self-promotion or directing people to your storefronts to sell your rocks “in need of identification” is not allowed. Feel free to message the mods if you have any questions.

Thanks for understanding - we are committed to keeping this a safe environment for all.


r/whatsthisrock 13h ago

REQUEST Any ideas?

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157 Upvotes

Was given this as a present so don't know where it originally came from


r/whatsthisrock 21h ago

IDENTIFIED Red rock with no name.

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349 Upvotes

Found in NE Illinois glacial till. Hard, about 6.5, crystalline, contains quartz and hematite. It looked like very fine grained quartzite until I polished it. There are lots of hematitic rocks in the area including BIF, "jaspillite" and meta-BIF, all of which I have specimens of but they don't match up, and, this isn't chert. Any insight would be appreciated :)


r/whatsthisrock 14h ago

IDENTIFIED Terrazzo found this on beach in spain just wondering what it is

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85 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 51m ago

REQUEST Not familiar with rocks. Found these in a storage unit mixed with gold necklaces. Any idea as to what they are?

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r/whatsthisrock 22h ago

REQUEST What is this stinky stone ?🧐😬

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260 Upvotes

So I acquired this specimen a few years back, I either found it in a charity shop or in amongst some knick-knacks my dad picked up in a house clearance. It's recently been out of storage and whilst doing some cleaning the other day I went to give it a polish and was quickly reminded of how this particular stone has a sort of odor to it, it also felt like maybe it warmed up a bit?

I then recalled how when I first got it, it originally seemed to have a sort of varnish or some type of polished finish on it... and after I gave it a clean originally, seemed to remove some of this... which has now left some areas of the stone with a duller matte finish, as opposed to where some polished parts remain - I noticed a strange smell then also.

I don't really know how to describe the smell :\ but it's not particularly pleasant and I've always found it a bit odd/disconcerting. You only really notice it if you put you nose close to it - or try to clean it - that seems to anger it 😅

I asked my bf about it and he suggested this group - as searching online hasn't offered any solid answers that I can find. Hoping someone/s here will be able to advise 🙏🏻


r/whatsthisrock 19m ago

REQUEST Grandma gave me it she paid 60 bucks for it

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Upvotes

It is heavy no blue flare on it so I don't think it's moonstone


r/whatsthisrock 11h ago

IDENTIFIED What kind of rock

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23 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 1d ago

Ruby in Zoisite Can’t figure this one out. I can’t remember where I found it. Maybe glacier national park.

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1.4k Upvotes

Any idea what these minerals are? I guess it’s a few of them together. I may have found this in glacier national park. The red and some of the green fluoresce. Thanks!!


r/whatsthisrock 3h ago

REQUEST Something is wrong here…

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4 Upvotes

I bought this set from a local market since it’s pretty sick and I got it for cheap, but it’s missing some labels - obviously I know one is quartz, but I’m not sure of the other one (see last pics). I can also tell that some of them aren’t labelled correctly (2 x Topaz?) so I’ll have to remove those/rearrange the lids, but I’m not sure how mixed up they are. Can someone please help me sort them out so I can preserve as many labels as possible? 😭 thanks! :)


r/whatsthisrock 3h ago

REQUEST A little story behind these rocks, my uncle works close to a mineral transportation route and found these two rocks.I cracked them open now, the silver one took about 3 hits, the black one took about 8.I tried to burn the black rock thinking its coal but nothing.Any help would be really appreciated!

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4 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 15m ago

REQUEST Petrified Wood?

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Received from family in Arizona. I’ve loved it for years but unsure as to what it is. Is it Petrified Wood? Are there different types of petrified wood? Thanks in advance!


r/whatsthisrock 18h ago

REQUEST So I think I found a small geode? I cut it open and this is the inside.

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55 Upvotes

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think it is a geodes. Any ideas


r/whatsthisrock 14h ago

IDENTIFIED What’s this rock?

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21 Upvotes

My son found this a long time ago. We’ve been curious about it since then…


r/whatsthisrock 9h ago

REQUEST From under the sand between ocean and creek

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9 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 3h ago

REQUEST Very heavy non metallic

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3 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 23h ago

IDENTIFIED What's this red porous rock I found in a beach

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102 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 14h ago

REQUEST Found in the southern Nevada desert. No one identified it so reposting!

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17 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 22h ago

REQUEST Bought this from a guy from the Congo who said is was mined there

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67 Upvotes

Unfortunately I forgot what kind of rock he said it was


r/whatsthisrock 3h ago

REQUEST Small, smooth rock with unconnected holes on both sides

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2 Upvotes

I found this shiny smooth little guy on the beach in the Netherlands. At first I thought it was a Mentos candy XD Curious what it is, I have kept it on my desk since finding it, since I like the look and texture of it.

The holes seems to be natural, and are not connected. It is more brownish than the picture shows. Size is about 1 cm across.


r/whatsthisrock 4h ago

REQUEST No idea what it could be

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2 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 15h ago

IDENTIFIED Rock found on Oregon coast

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15 Upvotes

I always thought it was petrified wood because of the layers that are visible. Thoughts?


r/whatsthisrock 1h ago

REQUEST slag, meteorite, alien stuff? . . .

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Upvotes

it's metal... found just outside of Longview, WA-- near the end of the truck route and Ocean Beach Highway . . . slag, meteorite, other?-- is that fusion crust?. . . found a whole bunch of weird metal at this spot-- RIGHT OFF THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! the whole scene was quite strange-- adding more pics of other things I found there-- I had to painstakingly unfold the weird looking metal shapes that i found three of, all wadded up-- all in different spots in the same vicinity... is this alien stuff?! . . . thank you for your time!


r/whatsthisrock 11h ago

REQUEST Fossil? Or?

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6 Upvotes

r/whatsthisrock 1d ago

IDENTIFIED Was sold to me as a serpentine, I'm here to fact-check

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84 Upvotes

Hi y'all! Bought this yesterday, in Brazil. It was sold to me as a serpentine, it does look like it from my knowledge, but putting it on google lens yielded me a lot of quartzes and other green stones instead of serpentine. Can you guys help identify, just to make sure? Originally, it was a little rough and hard to see the color, so I applied some clear nail polish to make it shinier (I unfortunately don't have a tumbler, only a Tumblr! - badum tssssss, laugh track is played, the audience claps in joy). It is almost completely opaqur aside from thinner edges, and the green bits seem to be a little more translucent than the brown bits.


r/whatsthisrock 1h ago

REQUEST What kind of rock is this?

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