A Lesson Learned Early

We Geologists know that to get an ID, sometimes it's necessary to break a rock with a hammer in order to get a look at a fresher surface.  As the general public doesn't know this, it is best to advise them of this when they bring us a specimen to examine and identify.

I learned this in my high school Geology course (1971-1972).  In and around my parents' garden area, there wasn't much of interest, except for the occasional quartz arrowhead, rare pottery shards, rare pieces of soapstone (from Soapstone Ridge?), and weathered, crude hand tools made of diabase (these were the best things).

Near the garden area, upland from the creek floodplain, there was a small patch of exposed ground on the neighbors' property with small pieces of quartzite and "vein quartz".  Within the pieces of quartz, there would sometimes be small inclusions of Ilmenite (though I didn't yet know what they were).  One day, I found a decent chunk of Ilmenite, perhaps 1/4" x 3/8".

I took my "prize" to my Geology teacher for an ID.  He silently examined it and with rock hammer in hand, he knelt down and SMASHED it on the floor.  I was aghast!  He gave me the name "Ilmenite", he explained what it was and that it was a common mineral on the Georgia Piedmont.

While I was pleased with the ID, I made a pledge that in the future, I would ALWAYS advise a person that it "might be necessary" to break the specimen to "get a better look".  (To avoid that "lifelong trauma".)