Thanks for keeping this thread alive. I love the hunt.ElphabaNorthWest wrote:I found a site that says what the rocks are: mordenite. See: http://www.mindat.org/blog.php/779/NWMM ... Washington
I'm not a rock hound though, so that may be a generic term and you already know that, but maybe the NorthWest MicroMineral Study Group would be willing to chat?
There may be mordenite in there somewhere but it's not the green matrix rock they're referring to, it's the lighter chunks inside. Zeolites tend to be whitish and creamy or slightly orange and they have all sorts of groovy formations. This stuff is just rough, no crystallization at all to the naked eye, like a lithic mud from a sedimentary layer.
Serpentine is a thought, as is olivine, but both have a yellowish-green cast more olive in hue, like a lizard and they're much harder. (Hence, olivine and serpentine.) This stuff is titillatingly blue, like a tropical oasis, most unexpected around here but very beautiful. It's almost a dead match for the blue-green patina that forms on weathered copper when it's left outdoors, which makes me think seriously about a copper deposit upstream.
I haven't stopped searching. The stuff is pretty obvious up there in the creek beds; someone must know someone. If we focus on it long enough, they'll find us.
anna in boots
