Lake County Diamonds

Hello!
I wondered if anyone has information on Lake County Diamonds.
Here's what I know:
They are clear quartz, not formed in standard quartz shapes. In fact, they often look like broken safety glass!
They have a hardness of approx. 7 on the MOHS.

I know the basic things, but can they be cut? do they make pretty stones, or are CZ's better?
Do they have any value besides the 'oohs and ahhs' I get when I pour them out onto a black surface?

Any information will be greatly appreciated!

Corie

Lake County "diamonds" are xenoliths of quartz, which were picked up by erupting lavas of Mt. Konacti while underground and brought to surface. The rounded shapes are due to partial melting and resorption by the lavas before cooling. They are fascinating from a geological perspective, but I doubt they are worth more than any other quartz pebbles.

Thanks, Jesse!
I fnd their unique shapes very fascinating, and have the good fortune to have friends who own property right off Seigler Canyon Road.
In fact, we're going tomorrow, the first trip of the year!

Corie

quartz is quartz.....

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A buena hambre no hay pan duro

Here is a nice post at the Eclectic Arcania blog about collecting Lake County quartz "diamonds". Seems they found a decent pod in the volcanic rock. I don't know what the red mineral is that they found associated with the quartz bearing rock, but it looks 'gemmy' to me.

[eclecticarcania.blogspot.com]

It also seems there are much larger and well formed "diamonds" being found right below the surface at the Grizzly Ridge Quartz mine, or ranch, up somewhere in the northern California mother lode country. Checkout this recent post. Nice large white quartz crystals and clusters from the igneous rock environment.

[eclecticarcania.blogspot.com]

Good luck rockhounding.

Scott



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2009 03:32PM by Scott L. Ritchie.

Thanks for the link, Scott. Isn't it cool to see those diamonds in situ?
We found tons of them (on the ground!) that day, including several different types of arrowheads.

It was a great day, but really, any day you can rockhound is a great day!

Corie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2009 03:43AM by Corie Mattar.

Scott,

Thanks for the links to eclecticarcania, it looks like an interesting blog to follow up. I would say their red mineral looks like garnet, and I have left a comment on the blog.

Pete N.

Corie, can you write a little report on your adventure and add a couple of good photos of your day? I would love to have more info on the fun you had! Warm regards, Gail

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Scott,
Thanks for the link to Eclectic Arcania. Great read, and a pleasure to see the mention of our up coming local show in it. I 'm looking forward to seeing some of these crystals...much more of a pleasure after the reading the information and seeing the in-situ photos!

Bob Knox (treasurer/Del-air Rockhounds Club)

Corrie:
My wife was from Clearlake and her dad still lives there. There used to be a small rock shop in Clearlake that sold faceted Clearlake "diamonds". Last time I was there was back in '85.

I still have an old mayo jar about 2/3rd full of "diamonds". I was more interested in the various types of obsidian, and you're right, there are some nice worked points and tools lying around, My in-laws back yard was full of them.
Bill

I am the author of the blog Eclectic Arcania mentioned here The blog posting to which this thread has featured a link is no longer valid as my former co-author (and ex-girlfriend) removed her content when we split up (which included the blog posting previously linked on this thread). Having noticed this fact I have just now posted a new Lake County Diamond blog posting which I hope will add some more information of use to this forum:

[eclecticarcania.blogspot.com]

Kim Patrick Noyes
Member ~ SLR, SLOGMC, & OMS


Anonymous User Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is a nice post at the Eclectic Arcania blog
> about collecting Lake County quartz "diamonds".
> Seems they found a decent pod in the volcanic
> rock. I don't know what the red mineral is that
> they found associated with the quartz bearing
> rock, but it looks 'gemmy' to me.
>
> [eclecticarcania.blogspot.com]
> ounty-diamonds-revisited.html
>
> It also seems there are much larger and well
> formed "diamonds" being found right below the
> surface at the Grizzly Ridge Quartz mine, or
> ranch, up somewhere in the northern California
> mother lode country. Checkout this recent post.
> Nice large white quartz crystals and clusters from
> the igneous rock environment.
>
> [eclecticarcania.blogspot.com]
> y-ridge-quartz-collecting.html
>
> Good luck rockhounding.
>
> Scott