r/askgeology • • Jan 05 '26

ID request New Ruling on ID posts.

5 Upvotes

Posts are now allowed to be requests for ID, although you must attempt to post to r/whatisthisrock or r/fossilid BEFORE posting here.

Mineral ID's have always been allowed and will continue to be.

Additionally, new post flairs have been added. Please select a flair when able.

Have fun!


r/askgeology • • 6h ago

Observational Question We can eat limited amounts of food-grade sodium chloride and calcium carbonate. Are there any other rocks we can safely eat?

22 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 1h ago

ID request I have two specimens from relative close proximity, could this be sulfides ?The yellowed mineral is on a much softer rock and the last two pictures are a much harder stone and more silver color .

Thumbnail gallery
• Upvotes

.


r/askgeology • • 5h ago

What are these strange bowl-shaped formations in the Mojave Desert? Spotted from a plane flying from Los Angeles toward Las Vegas.

Thumbnail gallery
7 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 22h ago

Method of Formation What causes ringing rocks?

6 Upvotes

So there are ringing rocks in various places of the world, which ring like a bell when struck. Why? What is going on with the properties of the rock that make them ring? Is this replicable?

Are there any scientific papers on this subject where I could learn more?

Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringing_rocks


r/askgeology • • 1d ago

ID request Help with rock and fossil ID

Thumbnail gallery
17 Upvotes

Hiya, my grandfather was a geologist and we recently found these in his collection would anyone be able to help ID these? Thank you so much in advance 😊


r/askgeology • • 1d ago

I need help identifyi g this rock

Thumbnail gallery
2 Upvotes

I was originally thinking flint, but there's that weird iridescent patch on the back, it was found at the base of the Tatra mountains near a water source, near zakapone in poland. It scratched glass, aluminum, and my fingernail easily.


r/askgeology • • 1d ago

Geology professor I had a lot of respect for said climate change is a matter of controversy, invoked Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’. What do you think?

19 Upvotes

I’ll begin by stating that English is not my first language, and am studying Mineral and Metallurgical Engineering at a famous mining/geology school. As part of our sophomore year cross-departmental courses, we have a course in the geology department called Geology for Engineering and Sciences; common with sophomores from the geophysics and mining departments. The course structure is really nice, covers mineralogy, mineral and ore formation, Bowen’s reaction series; fold, block mountains, landscapes and contour/relief maps, palaeontology, seismology, and continental drift. That is of course tangential but while teaching us continental drift and the evidence for it, he strayed into the idea of climate change denial and how he believed climate change and global warming is a highly exaggerated idea. He brought up Michael Crichton’s famous book denying climate change, State of Fear; and while he did admit that there are petroleum and coal lobbies supporting this agenda, his counter to us was also that the idea of climate change and global warming being real phenomena to concern us would greatly help the electric and renewable energy/solar energy enormously. He pointed out how in a number of inland glaciers, ice buildup data during a series of years has been higher than the ice that actually melted. So there was a net gain of ice in these glaciers, opposite to what global warming theorists might suggest. What do you guys think? He’s a really respectable person, done his higher studies in Virginia Tech and the Royal School of Mines. Really fun to study from. I discussed this with him afterwards for quite some while, he had essentially the opinion that a full transition from petroleum to renewable energy is impossible and idealistic. He even said how there were theories suggesting petroleum itself is not fossil fuel per se, but rather derivatives of meteorites that landed on the earth. What are your opinions? I’m against the climate change denial movement and I know that all of us have watched that Hbomberguy video discrediting the Ben Shapiro argument against climate change; but he really did make a convincing argument.


r/askgeology • • 1d ago

Observational Question Someone to explain this rock formation

Post image
1 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 2d ago

Method of Formation How rapidly can a stratovolcano gain height, and what's the most recorded in a single eruption event?

Post image
862 Upvotes

The picture is of Mt. Hood taken by me (and no, I don't plan on giving Mt. Hood back 😠)

I've been thinking about this question while contemplating the short mountains in Oregon comparatively to Washington, as well as the collapse of Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Mazama.


r/askgeology • • 2d ago

ID request Found Bay of Fundy

Thumbnail gallery
11 Upvotes

Hi, folks. I rockhound a bit for exercise and for the neat agates and jaspers I find along a stretch of rocky beach. The green rocks I find are so mesmerizing and I have no clue what they are. My guess is some types of jasper or chert. Am I right that copper gives these the green colouring? Are these familiar to any of you?


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

Fossil or weird ass rock?

Thumbnail gallery
137 Upvotes

Chunk of flint from England, what are the arrowhead shapes? One is very defined, you can feel the grooves with your finger, one is perfectly smooth like it’s part of the rock.


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

A glacial collapse caused Nepal’s first flood. Not sure about the recent one. It surprised me to learn that the friction of the rocks under the ice caused it to melt rapidly, adding greatly to the amount of water. Do all rock slides generate that much heat?

Post image
27 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 3d ago

What is it?

Thumbnail gallery
19 Upvotes

It was suggested on whatisit/r that I post these pics here. Found in the Huron River/Argo Dam Pond, in Ann Arbor Michigan USA. It is about 20x20 feet in diameter, in 5-6 feet of water. Hard to see unless you are directly over it and the sun is shining. Is it eroded sandstone that used to be exposed before the dam was put in and raised the water level?


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

Method of Formation Beautiful and interesting fracture lines on this piece of jasper that I found this weekend

Thumbnail gallery
9 Upvotes

I would like to know about how these shapes were formed.

They remind me of dendrites as well as how frost sometimes forms on my car window.

To be clear, all of these fantastic shapes are indentations in the rock, which I called fracture lines even though I am not certain that is the correct terminology.

In the OP I called this jasper and I still think that is correct, however the few replies I had all said it was not.


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

ID request Partial Concretion Reveal

Thumbnail gallery
91 Upvotes

Here is what I believe to be a concretion I found last year. Got a bunch of jokes about it being an old petrified cow patty lol. I was hesitant to open it up but I saw cut it the other day and was curious about what I’m looking at. There’s some cool veins in it, there is a “granite” like looking vein but not entirely sure what it is exactly. Then there is some like fools gold appearing metallic veins in it. Couple areas that look like some quartz or crystalline structure. Just posting to learn about it if anybody knows.


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

How fast do mountain valleys accumulate sediment?

2 Upvotes

If something was laid down a thousand years ago, how deep would you expect it to be in a mountainous region similar to the Cascades?

New to Reddit, so lmk if there are particular conventions I'm missing.


r/askgeology • • 3d ago

ID request Petrified wood? Found in the San Joaquin Valley, CA.

Post image
2 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 3d ago

ID request Thoughts on this ?

Thumbnail gallery
2 Upvotes

Could this be cinnabar?


r/askgeology • • 4d ago

technical question Fossiles de cônes de pin pétrifiés

Post image
9 Upvotes

Vu que je les creuse depuis longtemps, les études disent qu’ils sont de Éocène d’autres disent Crétacé. Bien que je pose la question je savais déjà que la plupart des amateurs de fossils ne connaissaient pas ces belles plantes. 🌱
Bon fin de semaine


r/askgeology • • 4d ago

Rare Pectolite Unearthed Vancouver Island Canada

Thumbnail youtube.com
2 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 5d ago

Observational Question My grandfather gave me 2 like this long ago and said they were crystals from Mexico. He got them when he was in Mexico in his 20s but... they scratch quartz, chert and glass. Now I'm not sure what they are. Any idea ? Because it can't really be diamond each weighting over 4 grams. I'm not that lucky

Post image
113 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 5d ago

Observational Question Am I hallucinating or has the ground really been shaking everyday for weeks?

19 Upvotes

I feel like I’ve been loosing my mind lately. Around two weeks ago, there was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in my city. It was in the afternoon, I was laying in my bed and suddenly everything started to shake for approximately five seconds. I live in a fifth floor and it was relatively strong, but nothing super extraordinary. Nevertheless, it’s the first time in my life I’ve truly felt an earthquake to its full extent.

Anyways, the thing is that almost every night since I’ve been awaken in the middle of my sleep, and I’ve noticed these very subtle vibrations that can last up to two minutes. They are very, very weak tremors, so it’s pretty much impossible to record them and sometimes I have to stop breathing to even feel them. Other times, these are the equivalent of sitting down in a massage chair.

These usually occur at around 2:00-4:00 am, and I’ve thought that perhaps because I’m at such an hypnagogic state of mind when I am awaken during these hours, maybe I’ve been hallucinating everything. Last night, however, I felt them and forced myself to a fully awake state, and I could still feel the vibrations for around 15 to 20 seconds.

If this can really be attributed to seismic activity, maybe the reason I only feel them in bed is because my entire body is laying down and has greater surface area in contact with the ground. Maybe this happens all throughout the day on a daily basis, we just don’t typically feel it because we’re not in a recumbent position.

Does my theory have scientific validity or am I tripping?


r/askgeology • • 4d ago

Found at Sleese creek chilliwack lake road

Post image
1 Upvotes

r/askgeology • • 5d ago

Fossils i found i spain

Thumbnail gallery
21 Upvotes

I found some rocks recently in Spain (Alicante).According to Chat gpt they could be 3-20 million years old.is this true? I would really appreciate some information.thank you 🙏