Pat tea, we have it back home, too. It's crushed rock (granite)... but of course, I can be wrong :-). Why don't you try to polish one side of a piece and see if it becomes smooth and shine. If yes, it's granite. (Again, I might be wrong... look's deceiving!)

Xuan

Looks like Quartz to me.
Boop

I vote for quartz also. Check and see if they will scratch glass.

I think it's quartz too. If you have a university close by, someone in the geology department could probably identify it for you instantly.

I don't know what they are either. But I am facinated by rocks. Look at those in the picture....all the different types and colorations and layers of different types of rock all in one piece. It's as if someone stuck all the pieces together with super glue. Doesn't it make you wonder how all the different types got to the same place and how did they manage to become connected? I know I'm weird but that's just how my mind works.

Last summer on a boating excursion to our local lake we walked on some of the beach areas that are generally not accessed by humans because we jumped out of the boat to eat lunch on shore. I never noticed as I was walking but once I stopped I noticed that the shores were covered with very smooth flat rocks...perfect for skipping. When I went to retrieve one of them so I could skip it...it crumbled in my hand. I was just in awe by the colorations of the "dirt" and how it was all layered together. But what really got me was thinking of how they must have all been shaped by the movement of the water. Did they just tumble along on the bottom picking up different types of soil like a snow ball? Now I can't stop wondering how long it takes for them to lay on the beach and become "rock"???!! Or do they ever really harden? Inquiring minds want to know!

MeMo

My first thought was Quartz also.
Kathi

Don't know either...but they'd look great in a water feature!!!
It does have a quartzy look to them.
Where's Thinman? This sounds like a great question for him.

georgeanne

Thanks. I think it is quarts too. My research has been interesting. Pattioh, bet your right about the University. Silly me. We live just a few blocks from Washington State University. Memo, I share your thoughts. They are so facinating to me. My kids just role their eyes. Georich; you got my attention! Oh my goodness, a quarts water feature. I better get to diggin'. Here are some more!

Do you think you are digging up someone's old rock collection? I mean even though your pieces look like quartz, they look like DIFFERENT kinds, like from totally different places on the globe. I actually think they are worth $, so don't give them the heave-ho until you have someone look at them that actually knows something.

Keep us posted!
PattiOh

Pattioh; we have found these throughout our 11.5 acres. It all started when DH picked up some tiny crystals. We went up to the property to check on wind damage. We noticed a cluster in the roots of a tree that had fallen. I got so excited that we started walking the property. I think the rains had exposed corners by washing the mud off. DH pried them loose and we took them home to clean them up and realized we had these beautiful rocks. We are going back this weekend to "rockhound"! We learned that we may have thunder eggs on the property. Wouldn't that be cool!

Maybe you will find citrine, amethyst or topaz, all a form of quartz. Get a rock polisher and start a new hobby. My great uncle was a lapidarist. I have a ring he made for his sister (my grandmother). It is quartz with a piece of fern inside the stone.

He is a link to a topaz photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: topaz

Wow, it makes me think of the old tale of us Vietnamese when some gardener tried to dig a hole for planting her bushes then she found a hidden fortune in a big clay pot in the earth! Sounds like your case,Pat Tea!

Xuan

I really do know how to spell. LOL

Well, Pat_Tea, you just sent me scrambling to GOOGLE to find out what the heck thunder eggs are!

Now I can say that would be very cool indeed!

Just in case I'm not the only one who didn't know, here's a link:

PattiOh

Here is a link that might be useful: Thunder Eggs

Hello, this is my first post here. I have been collecting these too and wondering what they were. Did you ever find out for sure? We live in a new development. I am finding them all over the place. Some are shinier, more crystal like than others. I've got 3 boxes of them just trying to decide what to do with them and what they are. My first thought was quartz too.

I had no idea what Thunder Eggs were! Thanks for the link! How cool- let us know what you finally do with them.

Deb; We have not found out for sure what they are only that they are pretty common in the PNW. The rockhound society in our area isn't very active in the Winter but as soon as it warms up a bit I'll look some what up who knows and let you know. Isn't it fun finding them?

Boy the things I learn here! I always thought agates were a stone. My mother had an agate ring that was polished and full of beautiful swirls. My grandfather used to find them in MN and had rings made for his wife, daughters and daughter-in-laws. Fascinating link Patti, thanks.

MeMo

Those are definatly quartz. I have a cave in my backyard and find them alot. But it is odd out in a field. Wonder if you have an underground cave on your property?
Agate is much darker, richer. These are quartz. hmmmm what can you do with those. Cool Find, you have some big ones that are probably worth a little money. Cool

Where there is quartz, there is gold. Sometimes. ;-)

You have Milky Quartz and Rock Quartz. Looks like you have some Quartz Aggregates, too.

Quartz is an igneous rock, made from volcanic action, and Washington has or has had volcanos.

It's common to find them in the volcanic areas of the country, esp. after it rains. You will find them in Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Oregon, Utah, Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma and Texas, and in Mexico.

It comes in clear (Rock Quartz), white (Milky Quartz), brown and gray (called Smokey Quartz) and purple, which is Amethyst, my birthstone. There are others - I cannot recall them all.
Really nice assortment. Thanks for sharing.

~ Annie

Happy belated birthday Annie.

I used to find the same quartz on my auntie's property. On occassion we'd find quartz crystal. Sure to be some around if you look hard enough.

Edna

I am fascinated with Geology. I collect rocks too.

When I was a little girl, I went for the weekend with my cousin's family to their cabin up in Yucca Valley. We went rock hunting in a lava flow. It all seemed to be the same type of black lava rock for a mile or more. Occassionally I would find a nice piece of Pumice stone [Lava (foam) rock that floats on water]. As I made my way over one lavaflow ridge, the lava changed to a dark brown color and then I spotted something very special - a big chunk of dark chocolate colored lava with quartz crystals on one side! It was beautiful!

Here in Oklahoma, several hundred thousands years ago a volcano erupted in eastern Colorado. It was said to be one of those Megga volcanoes. It threw magma and debris for hundreds of miles, perhaps thousands of miles. There is a big flow of lava in the NW part of the state and another flow in the southwest in the Wichita Mountains. I found large balls of what appeared to be hardened mudballs or sandstone balls, perfectly round balls of stone. They were all about the size of cannon balls and very, very heavy, indicating an iron composition. Upon cracking one open, it split cleanly and revealed the inside was completely crystaline, with crystal slivers all radiating from the center.
It is amazing how far a volcano can throw material..
It can also be carried long distances by water. I live hundreds of miles from where any known volcanic material is located in the state, and yet I have found pieces of volcanic glass and Flint stone buried in my yard. I live on a high ridge. The nearest river is about 12 miles from here and several hundred feet lower. So how did the Volcanic glass and pieces of black Flint get here? Was it blasted through the air as volcanic missles or did it get washed here by the river thousands of years ago?
~ Annie
sweetannie4u

And....Thanks for the birthday wish, Edna.

Pat tea, I lived in Richmond VA as a child, and the clear and milky quartz crystals were everywhere. We found big round thundereggs (called them geodes) beside the playground where a slope was leveled. They are round, rough and plain gray or tan on the outside, but when you broke them open the crystals inside were clear quartz at the base and amethyst at the ends. Lovely! I hope you find some; they are a wonder.

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