Have no idea where this beauty is from or how we got it but I’m guessing it was a crystal shop or gift store. I’m a sucker for a gem/crystal/rock display.

I live in New York City. One of my favorite features about the city is Central Park- a cornucopia of fantastic schist boulders. There are so many awesome boulders in the park that there are legitimate places to free solo climb (its called Rat Rock! see linked video). I love how these boulders naturally outcrop and terraform the landscape and feel of the park. Anyone whose walked about on a beautiful day has likely been charmed by the paths naturally winding around fantastic rocks that pop up out of nowhere. Often, they are perfectly sloped and accessible enough to invite tourists to casually ascend for a better view. It's easy to find yourself sitting atop a massive boulder and wonder "how am I in the middle of a gigantic city right now??" The bedrock in the New York City region is mostly schist, a semi-hard metamorphic rock with loads of tiny crystals, mica flecks, and various bands of marble, quartz, and other fun stuff. The unique undulating slopes of Central Parks topology are all directly related to how this layer of schist has been adapting tectonically for billions of years. If you observe the exposed layers of rock, its immediately apparent its been through some heavy, dramatic movement. Look at the pictures and you'll see what I mean! I've included some various pics of Central Park from online. They aren't the best, but I work close by and will snap some real photos of my favorite spots!

Hi everyone, I’m in Texas right now, specifically San Antonio. The geology isn’t crazy diverse, but the rocks that do show off are particularly cool. South Texas is covered in Limestone. Around 500 million years ago, most of the southern US was covered by a warm shallow sea. It retreated overtime and left millions of crustaceans, coral and dead sea life exposed. Over time these fossilized while compacting and turned into a rich layer of rock. This is what we call Limestone. Limestone has some easy to identify features, like porousness, but can be confidently confirmed by an acid test. A couple drops of diluted hydrochloric acid (hydrogen peroxide is a common household acid that can work) causes the carbonate in the limestone to dissolve. While dissolving it fizzes and bubbles. When it does that, you’ve got limestone! The acid test proves carbonate is in the makeup of the rock. Carbonate is a derivative of organic matter. So if you get fizzing on your rock, that’s a good indication that part of the rock was once a living thing! Anyway, here’s some cool pictures of very porous limestone just hanging out in my parent’s neighborhood. Q: any limestone in your collection? Do the acid test and find out!

I saw this at Harvards geology museum and was blown away. It’s amazing how the atomic structure of the mineral builds on itself over and over and over to the point where it completely encases the host rock it’s growing on. Then growing as a perfect cube to boot! As if that weren’t amazing enough Topaz naturally colors as a translucent aquamarine blue. It can also take on Smokey orange and brown colors, but always remains translucent. This is why it’s considered a gem and has been highly sought after for generations. Do you have any topaz jewelry? Ever seen it in this raw form?

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