Monday 27 November 2017

Agent of Mordor


I bought this interesting bit of rock from a stall-holder last Saturday. All I know about it is that it seems to be some sort of flint.

Because the pink in it is pretty much the same hue as the bathroom, it now lives on the marble shelf there, right above the bath.

I am not sure how long it will stay in that place. I get a curious feeling that I am being watched by a creature from another time or planet every time I look (back) at it.
at

17 comments:

  1. Sarah 27 November 2017 at 02:03

    I have never seen pink flint. Here in the Surrey Hills our flints are often quite blue which I like, but never pink. Although I don't much like seeing old venerable beech trees uprooted by the wind when it does happen I love to investigate the newly exposed and pure white chalky limstone formed by sea creatures millions of years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson27 November 2017 at 06:55

      I know that flint, but see Vivian's identification below. There is also the toffee-yellow of churt, which is a flint also from some parts of Surrey.

      Delete
  2. Cro Magnon27 November 2017 at 02:05

    It would interesting to slice through it (and polish). I've never seen anything like that before. Nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson27 November 2017 at 06:56

      I like the way it has been split, and don't much like polished examples - my mother used to roll-polish stones!

      Delete
  3. Rachel Phillips27 November 2017 at 02:14

    We don't have pink flint in Norfolk. I like the greeny bit at the bottom as well as the pink.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jane Karwat27 November 2017 at 05:23

    I call Trump Sauron. The flint is very interesting and quite beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Vivian27 November 2017 at 05:28

    Oh! I think I know this! It's polychrome jasper, specifically a red jasper in pink matrix. In other words, it's quartz embedded in rock. It's not flint.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson27 November 2017 at 06:51

      Yes, I think you are right Vivian. I had the word 'chalcedony' going through my head since I first saw it. According to the net, it has some sort of miraculous healing nonsense attached to it.

      Delete
  6. A Heron's View27 November 2017 at 05:44

    An attractive piece of geology Tom and it looks like a conglomerate to me of which there are many types and sub-types.
    A lucky find no doubt about that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson27 November 2017 at 06:57

      It isn't a conglomerate, but the surface does look like that, I agree.

      Delete
  7. Joanne Noragon27 November 2017 at 06:26

    I have a slab of flint from southern Ohio. My dad collected, cut and polished it. The center is a geode, The stone is the color of the red/green flint on the bottom. I gave it to my grandson to display.
    Do you know anything about the composition of the top of this flint?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson27 November 2017 at 06:53

      Well Vivian has just identified it as a jasper, so it has not much to do with flint. Flint is silica, whereas jasper is quartz type.

      Delete
  8. Iris27 November 2017 at 09:51

    Very cool piece! The things the earth cooks up, eh?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)