Rocks & Minerals

Rock and Mineral resources in the Madison Area

• Burnie's Rock Shop - Located at the corner of East Johnson Street and North Paterson Street in Madison, Burnie's Rock Shop has been connecting you with the elements since 1963. Newly arrived inventory...handcrafted sterling silver and multi-gemstone jewelry...Baltic amber set in sterling silver rings, pendants, and earrings...sparkling gemstone beads in every color imaginable...mineral & fossil specimens from around the world...stainless steel rings.
   
• Beaded Cottage - Reference list of beading sites.

Other Selected Web Sites

• Thunder Ridge Gallery - Jewelry, Garden Sculpture and more.
  
  
• The Mineral Gallery - Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery is a large collection of mineral descriptions, images, and specimens.
  
  
• Mineral of the Month Club - Add a top quality specimen to your collection each month! All Club Members receive an excellent quality mineral specimen delivered to their door each month along with a detailed write-up explaining its composition, crystal structure, collecting localities (including information about public collecting where possible), technological & decorative uses, history & lore, and other fascinating information.

Rocks and Minerals Articles

Serpentine: western Ireland This ugly little thing was collected on Crough Patrick in western Ireland. Supposedly, St. Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland from the top of this mountain. The serpentine from the mountain was used by Irish natives as currency.

Amethyst (purple quartz): origin unknown Not sure where I picked this up. I'm also having second thoughts about my mineral ID here. It might be fluorite. It's been a while since I've had to ID rocks, and I'm a little rusty.

Stromatolite: origin unknown OK, keep this one secret, because I stole it from an ex-office mate. He literally had dozens of these in a box with no plans to do anything with them. I coveted them (disobeying the 11th commandment: thou shalt not covet thy office mate's rocks) and eventually just slipped one out of the box and into my desk. It's a beauty.

Tourmaline: Sierra Nevada, California I picked this up around an abandoned mine in the Sierras. This specimen has nice columnar crystals.

Fiamma: Bishop Tuff, California Great example of fiamma, or flame structures, that arise from the compaction of volcanic ash after an eruption. The ash from this Californian eruption supposedly spread all the way to Kansas!

Crinoid stem cross-section: Bloomington, Indiana This is one of many crinoids that I collected as a kid on my grandparents' land in Indiana. They had about a zillion acres of land, which included a fossil-laden stream. I pulled countless rocks out of there with my uncle, who is a geology professor.

Connemara Marble This stuff is highly sought after (in bigger pieces than this!) for whatever you use marble for. It's a beautiful green color with white veins.

Super-smooth limestone: The Burren, Ireland These were collected during my field camp course in western Ireland. There was a beach covered in smooth, round stones that are extremely pleasing to hold in your palm. Amongst our group, they became gifts, symbols of friendship, and symbols of sympathy. We'd leave them on each others' bunks or slip them into backpacks with little notes. So these have especially lovely memories for me.